A Juicy Conspiracy

The journey continues....

2008-05-07T09:42:00.006-04:00

Juice feasting may be over, but you can still follow my path towards good health on my new blog: A Healthy Conspiracy. The journey that begun through juice feasting continues in the form of a healthy raw-food diet. I also explore the psychosomatic side of illness; healing through forgiveness and letting go of resentment. Please visit my new blog!

A Crunchy Conspiracy

I also have another new endeavor; A Crunchy Conspiracy. On this blog, I post yummy raw recipes. Make sure to stop by to find some tasty crunchy raw recipes!

In the meantime, this blog, A Juicy Conspiracy, will live on as a journal of my 92 days of juice feasting. If you plan on juice feasting, I think this will give you great insight on how this journey can play out. Juice feasting is a magical experience; it can also be quite a roller coaster ride. Remember always: take it one day at a time.

Thank you for stopping by,

- Ben Kaelan

Day 98 - Last day of feast-breaking

2008-04-20T20:54:00.001-04:00

Well... That's it! I guess juice feasting is really over. What a great journey this has been! :)

Today was another fun-filled salad day. I kept things relatively simple again today. In fact, I opted for the same salads I had yesterday (more or less) since ... they just were so good. I had SO much energy today. It really was just amazing. Not only was I filled with energy but I was also MOTIVATED as hell to get things going in my apartment.

I emptied out all the nice ikea jars that were filled with non raw ingredients (couscous, lentils, flour, sugar, split peas, sushi rice, etc) and I put all of these into ziplock bags which will be donated shortly. I washed them all out and proceeded to start putting all my raw staples into them (nuts, dried fruits, etc). I'm going to need a few more jars :) My kitchen is starting to look more and more raw. I also took my microwave outside yesterday and put a sign on it that said "I still work - take me home". I'm happy to report, when I left for work this morning, my microwave had a new home.

I had a lot of fun reorganizing my kitchen. I guess it's that spring cleaning spirit eh?

Today I had:

8:00am
1.25L water+msm+lime
1 cascara sagrada cap

10:00am
1/2 a small watermelon
1 Intestinal movement cap

1:00pm
1 salad (baby spinach, avocado, alfalfa sprouts, sauerkraut, lime)
sun dried olives (so tasty and herby!!)
enzymes

4:00pm
flax crackers

5:00pm
1L water

7:00pm
Nori rolls (sprouts, baby spinach, avocado, carrot, cucumber, sauerkraut, mung bean sprouts, nama shoyu)
2 small chocolate macaroons
2 apples

10:00pm
1.5L grape/strawberry/orange

- - - - -

It's a bit weird to feel hungry and know that you can actually do something about it. :) Anyway... this journey is over and a new one is about to begin. This will be my last post on this blog (until perhaps there comes a time when I decide to juice feast again). In the meantime, you can continue to follow my healthy adventures at "A healthy conspiracy". I still need to work on making a graphic for that blog but it will come soon enough. Bear with me. :)

The reason why I'm 'moving' is to make this blog a resource that is more easily navigable should anyone wish to look at what I've done while juice feasting. I think that juice feasting was one novel... and "Phase II" as I like to call it is a sequel to this. Therefore, each should be its own 'book'. :)

There will be a really GREAT post on "A healthy conspiracy" tomorrow. I'm too pooped to do it now. :)

Hugs!

- Ben

PS: Thanks to everyone, once again, that has supported me on this journey, sent me love, advice and praise. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I truly feel honored to have such great friends on this road to health. :)

Day 97 - Orgasmic salad!

2008-04-19T22:09:00.000-04:00

How freakin' wonderful it was to have a salad after all this time. I think I could honestly eat salad for the rest of my life and be completely content. I had the most orgasmic first salad ever... and it was QUITE basic. I wanted to keep things simple but healing at the same time. I used to drench my salads in dressing... I didn't want that at this stage anyway (I make a mean tahini-garlic dressing by the way!). A squeeze of lime was all this salad needed! :)

I also popped open a jar of raw unpasteurized sauerkraut yesterday and couldn't get enough of it. As I've mentioned before, I've been craving sauerkraut like mad but I've only ever had it once in my life at a raw food festival. This sauerkraut tastes nothing like the festival kind. It tasted like... dill-pickle Lays potato chips.... as crazy as that sounds. YUM!!

Halfway through the day, I realized I REALLY was craving juice like mad. I had no fruits left in the fridge so I hopped on the bike and went to the grocery store. I biked home with 40lbs of groceries in my backpack. Thank the Universe for that HUGE backpack I won at work a few years back! :P

The night ended with some tasty nori rolls. It was so much fun to make these. I think I made WAY too much though but I ate the whole thing anyway. :)

Today I had:

8:00AM Water+msm+lemon
1 Cascara Sagrada cap

10:00AM Half a watermelon (small)
1 Intestinal movement cap

1:00PM Orgasmic Salad: Avocado, Sauerkraut, broccoli sprouts, Alfalfa sprouts, baby spinach, arugula, sun dried olives, lime.

3:00PM Dates

7:00PM 1 Litre water

8:00PM 4 Nori Rolls with Carrots, Cucumbers, broccoli sprouts, Alfalfa sprouts, baby spinach, red onions. ( I was tempted to pop open the nama shoyu but I ate them as is)

9:00PM Pineapple/orange/blackberry juice (I was about to strain this through a nut milk bag because the samson juicer leaves little bits in the juice and then I realized... I don't have to do that anymore! YAY!)

11:00PM 2 small apples
2 Enzymes caps

(forgot to take probiotics today but given all the sauerkraut I ate, I don't think that's a problem!)

I'm DEFINITELY having another orgasmic salad tomorrow! :) You have no idea how intense the flavours were. The avocado felt sooo smooth and tasty. I don't think I've ever had a better-tasting avocado in my life! The sun-dried olives were DELICIOUS... I could taste each single herb. My sense of taste has been so incredibly heightened.

I think I have a surprise in store for you tomorrow... stay tuned ! :)

- Ben

PS: Ramona: you asked if I had bought a whole new wardrobe given the 30lbs I've lost. I haven't yet. I'm relying on belts to keep my pants up and I have a few pair of pants that I bought when I was skinner (I dropped to 145lbs when I was on the Pagano diet 2 years ago but quickly gained it back) that I'm wearing more often than others. I DESPERATELY want to go buy new clothes (and I have a 120$ gift certificate for RW&co sitting on my dresser) but I want to see how my weight evens out over the next month as I reintroduce solids. I'm expecting to gain back some weight...whether that's 5lbs or 10lbs or 15lbs remains to be seen. I honestly don't want to gain more than 5lbs because I REALLY like being 140-145lbs but we'll see if I can maintain this weight on a raw diet. *hugs* :)

Day 96 - More fruit.... (and some cheating!)

2008-04-18T21:04:00.000-04:00

Today was another fruity fruity day... except for the bag of dulse I broke into later in the day.... I rationalized that the 12 hour difference from end of fruit day to beginning of salad day was negligible so I should be able to pull this off. I must be the first person in the world who feels bad about "cheating" on his diet with DULSE! Dear lord... it's so good for you! :P It's funny how I managed to stay on the straight and narrow and not cheat on the juice feast at all and somehow I couldn't wait 12 hours for a bag of dulse. LOL! Oh well... we all have our weaker moments eh? :)

My body is slowly getting used to the idea of having solids in it again. I'm starting to have regular BMs again and there was significantly less bloating today. My skin is having a major reaction to all this, though. I'm flaking A LOT right now. I'd be tempted to freak out right about now and run back to juicing but I have a feeling this is completely normal given the circumstances. I know that once I start eating salads again and tons of other yummy alkaline foods, this should get better.

I actually saw my chiropractor on day 94 and forgot to report this. It was actually time for my quarterly evaluation. My neck and back have had no pain in the last 2 months which is awesome! Whenever my chiro would adjust me during the juice feast, she would always comment on how fasting had made me much more malleable and receptive to the changes she was making through chiropractic adjustments. My evaluation went really well except when she went down each vertebrae to see if any subluxations were affecting my spine... she found TONS of them. Now.... when I first started going to the chiropractor.... I think I had 7 spots that weren't subluxated out of 56. Can you say majorly fucked up? Back in December, this reversed... so out of 56 spots. only 7 were subluxated. Major improvement!!

This number has now risen which is nuts. This means my spine has suddenly and recently gotten WORSE! My chiro was also surprised and said "you're not normally like this". She had a very simple explanation; through reintroducing solids into my system, I'm creating some chemical changes in my body and most of these changes happen in and will affect my neck area. It's normal apparently for me to feel some neck discomfort over the next little while.

I can only assume that these same chemical changes are affecting the psoriasis. I'm just going to wait it out and see what happens. There are a few "battle elements" I am going to introduce once we reach the end of the feast breaking period.

Anyway. Today was fun and very low stress; a contrast to what Fridays usually look like in our shop. Typically, the shit always hits the fan on Fridays. I actually got to leave early today and took the opportunity to go buy a very sexy OXO mandolin. *droooool* First of all, everything OXO makes is sexy. Second of all, this mandolin is hot. It even does waffle cuts which is great for bringing waffle slices of beets and carrots to work as a snack. :)

I also bought some pine nuts today... I now have all the ingredients I need to make my top-secret delicious pesto recipe. It's unlike any pesto I've ever had... so yummy! :) I'm saving this one for the cookbook. :) I hope to have some of that on Monday but I'm missing a spiralizer to make zucchini noodles. I need to go to the west end and buy one. I can do that next weekend and get a ride there or I can hop on the bus and get there in an hour and take another hour to get back home. Sigh. We'll see how motivated I feel.

Next weekend, my mom and I are going SHOPPING. We're going to IKEA (few items I need to pick up: a clever for young coconuts, LOTS of glass jars for all the nuts and dried fruits I now have...) and a few health food stores. I'm going to bring her to a vegan/raw restaurant in a hip part of town too! :) I also need to pick up some more tupperwear and some nifty lunch boxes I saw (well more like tupperwear) that have many compartments and a space for ice packs. These would be great for sushi, salads, wraps, sandwiches, etc. :) There's also an organic farmer's market in the south end of town I would love to go check out with her. There's even a company there that sells only RAW foods at really great prices. They sell sesame seeds for dirt cheap!! :)

Today I had:

7:00AM
1 cascara sagrada cap
1.25L water+msm+lemon
250ml soak water
260gr prunes!
250ml grape/blood orange/strawberry/acai
1 intestinal movement cap
2 probiotic caps

10:00 AM
1.25L celery/kale/cilantro+kelp+E3live+Hsalt
2 Enzymes caps

12:00 PM
2 cups of watermelon

1PM
half a mango
1/2 cup strawberries
half a cucumber

4PM
1.25L grape/blood orange/strawberry/acai

7PM
2 cups of strawberries
half a small watermelon
half a cucumber

9PM
Totally cheated!! EEP! :P I had 80gr of fresh tender tasty salty dulse! Mmmmm!!! :)
2 Enzymes caps

Tomorrow's salad day! Thank god! :) I can't wait to have me some sauerkraut! :)

- Ben

Day 95 - Fruit! Finally! :)

2008-04-17T22:58:00.000-04:00

It’s fruit day! Consequently, this is the first day I’m actually been able to chew really flavorful things. There was no apprehension about the fruit, my friends. I really wanted some tasty yummy fruity goodness. The flavours of the fruits were SO intense... each mouthful was .... almost orgasmic! Here’s a quick overview of what today looked like:

Early morning:
1 Intestinal mouvement cap
1 Cascara Sagrada cap
2 Probiotics caps
260gr soaked prunes
250ml soak water

10AM:
1.25L celery/collar greens/parsley/dandelion

12:30PM:
Half a mango
¾ cup Strawberries
2 kiwis

2PM
1.25L grapefruit/blood orange/acai

4PM
Half a cucumber
1/3 of a pineapple

7PM:
6 or 7 kiwis
1 blood orange
1/3 of a pineapple

Before bed:
1 Intestinal movement cap

Today’s tummy adventures were a bit weirder. The good news is, the ‘plumbing’ is working again. Things are moving down there again. I got REALLY bloated yesterday though. It was not pleasant at all! But yea… all better now.

After work, I went to do ultra-super-duper-mega groceries. I spent roughly 350$ yesterday. Don’t faint or anything… most of that was raw staples; cold pressed oils, raw vinegars, raw nut butters, raw olives, raw nuts etc etc. I got tons of fun stuff to make salads! I especially wanted some SPROUTS. I also got some sauerkraut… can’t wait to have some of that. I think I should be allowed to have this during salad days.

When I got home and ate all those kiwis and pineapple, I managed to ‘burn’ my tongue really badly. You know when you eat too much acid fruit? I think it may have been the bromelain in the pineapple that dissolved my tongue! LOL. I guess that was too much pineapple and kiwis at once.

Bad Mamajama asked me what I use as probiotics. I use the 8 strain Adult blend by Udo’s choice. I find it in the refrigerated section of health food stores. It’s much more expensive than other probiotics but it’s also much better. I highly recommend it! Probiotic powders should only really be used for making yogurts. For therapeutic doses, use probiotics in capsules. Always go for probiotics capsules that are refrigerated for maximum benefit.

That’s all for today (finding it really hard right now not to bust open a bag of dulse and eat the whole thing!... temptation is in my cupboards again… oh my!)

- Ben

Day 94 - More prunes

2008-04-16T20:32:00.001-04:00

Well it's day 94. I had that lovely long-awaited BM this morning which was good because I was really getting worried about how nothing was moving. The prunes tasted even better this morning. I actually set two alarms to wake up this morning; one at 3am to get up, add water to the prunes and go back to bed. The second alarm was to wake up at 6am to make more juice and get ready for work. By then my prunes were nice and plump. Mmmmm.

Today I had:

1 Intestinal movement cap
1 Cascara Sagrada cap
1.25L water+msm+lemon
230g soaked prunes
250ml soak water
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/strawberry
2.5L watermelon juice
1.5L grape/blood orange/strawberry
1 intestinal movement cap
Enzymes
Probiotics

(Did I mention how I feel like a pill-junkie right now?)

Thanks everyone for all the nice comments that continue to pour in. :) Very very sweet! :) Today was pretty uneventful. I biked to the grocery store after work to buy a bunch of fruit for tomorrow's fruit day. Super excited about that. I even got MANGO which I'm not the biggest fan of (other than in salad dressings) but for whatever reason... I'm CRAVING it right now. Yay!

Salad day can't come soon enough! hehehe! :)

- Ben

Day 93 - Prunes day, the full story

2008-04-15T21:12:00.002-04:00

Day 93 was actually a really good day. I was supposed to take the day off work but there's just so much going on at work right now that I ended up working from home. I think that was a nice compromise. I was able to sleep in, make juices as I needed them and use my half-hour lunch to do a quick video of me eating prunes (which I'm glad you all enjoyed hehe!).

The post-prune moments were very uneventful. I mean, I wasn't sure if I'd get cramps, be running for the toilet, etc. Yea. It was just uneventful. I ended up taking cascara sagrada to get things moving down there. I had already taken an intestinal movement formula capsule early that morning to make sure things WOULD be moving... but yea. Nothing. By the time I was ready to go to bed, still nothing had happened. I took another intestinal movement formula capsule...waited a while... still nothing. This worried me but I went to bed nonetheless. (As I'm writing this on day 94, I can tell you now that things finally 'moved' the next morning. Yay!)

The prunes were kinda good :) Mushy... but good. I was able to eat nearly the whole 260 grams. Suddenly, when I only had 3 prunes left to go my body became adamant that it wanted no more.

Like I said in the video... this has been an amazing journey and I think the best part of this journey was juicing alongside all these other amazing people. Juice feasting just wouldn't have been the same without that kinship. I honestly believe I wouldn't have made it 92 days without this public forum...without this constant symbiosis of encouragement. I have SO many people to thank and I don't want to do it in any particular order (and I'm too lazy to do it alphabetically) so in no particular order... here goes :) Queue the academy awards music?

David and Katrina: you have opened my eyes to a whole new world and have gracefully nudged me towards a path to health. I know deep in my soul that you have forever changed my view of life and health and profoundly changed my inner self. Words cannot convey the gratitude I feel when I think of you two. Thank you so much for bringing juice feasting into my life and guiding me along the more tumultuous times. Thank you so much for all the time you have invested in the global juice feast; I love love love watching your videos! It's like I get to sit down with my water+msm everyday with you two and learn more about health. Thank you!! :)

Carrie & B: despite making me salivate all the time lately, whenever I view your blog... I have to say it's been a pleasure juice feasting alongside you. I can honestly say I've felt a strong kinship with those with whom I juice feasted closely with and you guys are part of that group. Thanks for all your advice along the way and your comments. I can't wait to see you guys and have some fun in NYC ASAP! :) Hugs!!! :) Can't wait to make you guys an awesome "thank you" dinner :P

Hanlie: thank you for commenting so often on my blog. I loved getting your comments all the time and they always put a smile on my face. It's really been great being on this journey with you and sharing the ups and downs of juice feasting. I'll never forget that poignant post for which I awarded you the juice feaster award. I am so proud of you for the commitment you've made for your health and your baby, who is waiting for the right moment to bless you with his/her presence. :)

Michelle: It's been great juicing through the ups and downs with you. I distinctly remember a point where we both were about to throw in the towel at the same time. It was great to know that I wasn't the only one feeling it. I'm really glad we both stuck it through! You're almost done too!! Isn't it crazy how fast this has gone? :) Hugs! Really appreciate all your comments throughout this. Thanks!

Poppy: My juicy sister! :) I loved how we were just a few days apart on this journey. Your blog continues to be an endless source of inspiration. Your writing is incredibly eloquent. I am thrilled to hear of all the positive things that are happening to you right now and am glad you've continued to blog. I definitely want to hear more about your raw-foodie adventures. :) Bisous!

Philip: You're almost there too! :) Thanks for all the great insightful comments and inspiring me to go to bed earlier (well... or trying to) and give up TV during weekdays. You're definitely and inspirational guy and I can't wait to see how your quest for health continues to unfold. What you've done so far is truly amazing! Can't wait to see you when I get to NYC later this Spring!

Kyle: I'll never forget that poop-post! I learned more about poop in one blog post than I knew all my life! Thanks for that :P hehe! Thanks also for all the great comments and the juicy camaraderie! It was awesome to juice feast alongside you :) Can't wait to hang out at Pure Food and Wine with you too :P *giggles*! :)

Kristi: You're another amazingly eloquent blogger that I am truly grateful to have crossed paths with. Thank you so much for sharing your inspirational journey with such insightful details. Definitely proud to have juiced through the cold climate with you! :) Thanks for all the great comments. I hope your computer lets you watch the video eventually; had a lot of fun making it. We'll have to swap raw-recipes soon :) Prunes tasted even better on day 94! :P

Mish: It's been especially nice to feast with someone who was going through the same issues I have. You're one positive ray of sunshine and I can't thank you enough for all that great advice when I was having that rough time with my mom. I also haven't had a chance to formally thank you yet for your amazing gift. I've been going through it and it's freakin' amazing! Thank you so much for sending that to me! I owe you one! :) That was really thoughtful. I know you're out in the middle of an ocean somewhere right now but... when you get to read this... Thanks and lots of love from Ben!!! :)

Malynda: Luuuuv ya! :) *giggles* Nope... Wasn't going to pass out... If I've learned anything throughout this juice feast it's to CHEW!!! I used to be a freakin' hoover and suck down food so fast. I'm not going to do that anymore! :) Aaanyway :) Thanks for making me giggle throughout this and encouraging me through the juice feast. It's really been great making a cool friend like you! :)

Lisa from NZ: Thank you so much for that great advice when that mysterious neck thing came about! Thank you for all the great comments along the way; juice feasting with a buddy like you has been great. To reply to your comment: I totally think, in retrospect, after having watched this video 20 times, that I was indeed high off prunes. It's still really weird to think that foreigners think I have an 'accent' :P But... as long as it's a pleasant sounding accent that's fine by me :P I dated a kiwi once and I liked his accent so hopefully the feeling was mutual... hmmm :P hehehe. Those were indeed some SCARY prunes; they were soaked which is why I think they looked so scary. Juicy on!

Nettle: My fellow Ottawan juice feaster; sorry we never made that juice-luck happen. Thanks for all the great Ottawa-advice. It was really great to juice feast with someone who knew the city, share tips and all. I definitely hope we get to meet soon. We'll have to go to the wild oat for a nice raw lunch sometime! :)
Lisa from TX: Thank you so much for your frequent visits and great comments..... and today's shout out! :) I feel so special!!! *loved* :) Loved the poem by the way... I feel so bad that I've been so swamped and haven't had a chance to thank you for that; super cute and super sweet! :)

Jessica: Where is my Jessica? Sniff sniff. I miss youuuu! Even if you seem to have disappeared, I couldn't do this thank you without thanking you because you ALWAYS brought a smile to my face throughout this juice feast. Your videos inspired me to juice feast alllllll the way back in October. You're a juicy superstar in my world; anyone who can juice feast with a baby, people cooking food around them and crazy-ass storms is a juicy hero in my books! :)

Penni: You're halfway done! That's awesome! Thank you so much for your frequent comments; I read them all and feel really bad that I haven't had a chance to visit everyone else's blogs lately. Totally love Trotter and Klein and will definitely have to post pictures of anything I make out of that cookbook. :) Big hugs!!! :) Still in awe of how radiant you look right now! :)

Loulou: Sorry again; been super swamped lately and have really been bad at keeping up with everyone's juicy journey. I really appreciate all the great uplifting comments (even if you thought you were trying to be my mom hahaha!) :) Hang in there... the last half of the juice feast goes by really quick! :) Just think of it in terms of weeks... you'll be amazed how quickly the countdown goes!

Jack & Jill: You guys seem to have disappeared but thanks for the award and the great comments and thank you for giving me the idea of fast tuesdays :) I think I need a break from juice for the next little but but I definitely will be stealing this idea from you soon :)

SUKI!!: Thank you so much for your advice :) Really appreciate it and yea... we totally need to hang out next time I'm in London. You'll have to show me where to get some yummy raw foods seeing as my favorite M&S Edamame salad is now off the list! :P

There are COUNTLESS other people who have touched my heart on this journey and my thanks goes out to you as well. I thank everyone who has left comments on this blog and encouraged me and cheered me up on the more challenging days. There are so many of you that are on this journey and I wish you all the best of luck. Thank you so much to Lynda, Terilynn, Ramona, bad mamajama (you can send all your cute gay friends my way!! no problem!!)... I hope I'm not forgetting anyone... everyone has been so amazing :)

Anyway.... this took hours to write so I better post it. I just really want to apologize to everyone though because I have been REALLY busy lately and haven't had a chance to keep up with everyone's blogs and ... yea.... I'll try to catch up soon enough. :) Hugs for everyone! :)

Shit I almost forgot:

Today I had:

1 Intestinal Movement cap
1.25L water+lemon+MSM
250ml soak water
230g PRUNES!
3L apple/kiwi
1 cascara sagrada cap
1 intestinal movement cap
probiotics

Today I also did:

3Km bike ride (to the grocery store and back...with 30lbs of groceries in my backpack)
Skin brushing
Zapper

- Ben

Day 93 - I ate the prunes!!! :)

2008-04-15T18:26:00.002-04:00

A full write up of today's events will follow but I couldn't wait to post this. :)

The video (sorry it's poor quality) I took on Day 1 can be found here :) Can you see the difference? :)

PRUNES!!! :)

- Ben

Day 92 - Last juicy day

2008-04-14T20:24:00.004-04:00

"Life is flowing. It is a river, a constant flux.

People think of themselves as static. Only things are static, only death is unchanging ~ life is constantly changing. More life ~ and more change. Abundant life ~ and there is tremendous change each moment."

Osho

Well that sums it up. I got this in my inbox this morning and I think it was incredibly appropriate given the momentous day that is today. Not much to report, honestly. I had an aversion to green juice, still, today so I started off the day with watermelon juice and had green juice later in the afternoon. At least I got some green juice, right? I biked over to the health food store to pick up some probiotics and a few more juicy ingredients to keep me going this week. I think I might be going shopping for groceries everyday this week because of how daunting this whole feast breaking thing is. I really need to sit down today and plan out what I'm going to be eating over the next week. This seems so anal retentive for someone who likes to be spontaneous in the kitchen. Sigh. :)

Oh! Actually I do have one weird thing to report. While at work, after drinking some watermelon juice... I got some really intense stabbing pains in my stomach, much like the ones I had on days 2-3-4. I have no idea how or why this happened because I haven't had these pains since then. I wasn't too concerned though. I was kind of humbled by the pain because I took it as a sign that my body had come 'full circle' and was ready for the next phase. The pains passed after 15 minutes which was nice! :)

I got home and had TONS of energy. I found myself doing a lot of cleaning. I felt really motivated. I think it's because I felt so rested from having a weekend off. I remember hearing someone say that motivation is like a gas tank and the more you work yourself hard, the less you have any motivation for other things... and that people who are well rested and take more time for themselves can gradually rebuild their motivation 'tank' and feel more motivated to accomplish the things that are important to them. It's interesting how I could have the perseverance to only drink juice for 92 days, get up at 5AM to make juice every morning
and work two jobs throughout this experience... but yet I have no motivation to take out the trash when I get home. LOL. I'm just hoping that I'll have MORE free time now that I'm not juice feasting. I'd like to continue getting up early but do half an hour of yoga instead of 2 hours of juicing.

After that cleaning-spree I pretty much vegged for the rest of the night. I ended up passing out on the couch and waking up around midnight. That hasn't happened to me in ages. This is something that used to happen ALL the time pre-juice feast. My friends and I
used to joke that I was narcoleptic. I would sleep on the couch at LEAST 50% of the time. Juice feasting really seems to have cured much of the fatigue I was experiencing, but more importantly... it seems to have helped with this weird narcolepsy I was experiencing. When I feel sleepy now, I just go to bed.

Anyway. Today (on this momentous day) I had:

3.25L watermelon juice
1.5L pineapple/blood orange
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro/parsley+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
2L grapefruit/blood orange/acai

8 litres on this last juicy day! :)

Today I did:

Skin brushing
Zapper (someone asked me where I got this.... I got it at: www.worldwithoutparasites.com
8KM bike ride (5 miles)

Well that's all :) Prunes are soaking as we speak! :)

I'm making a wee video tomorrow so if anyone has any questions you'd like to hear me answer on video, now is the time :)

Oops! I almost forgot to mention. I had an TREMENDOUS amount of encouraging and poignant comments from A LOT of people yesterday on blogger, facebook, msn, etc. I've had comments from people who have been reading this blog all along who have never commented before (thanks for finally saying hello!), people with whom I've had the pleasure of sharing this juicy journey (love you guys!) and some of my real life friends that I was worried just wouldn't 'get it'. Who can blame them right? It does sound a bit crazy at first. Even my coworkers were happy about it!! It's kinda funny too because they were really concerned when I first started this.

Anyway... all that to say, I really appreciate all the comments from all my readers and I plan to keep on blogging so I hope you keep on reading! :) It was really heartwarming to get all these comments yesterday and I thank each and every one of you. :)

- Ben

I just woke up on Day 92...

2008-04-14T06:32:00.004-04:00

A full post of today's events will follow (later tonight) but... I just woke up and had to do a happy dance because it's day 92 and I FREAKIN' DID IT!!! :)

You know.... back in October, I had no idea if I would have the willpower to drink juice and ONLY juice for a full 92 days. Giving up solid food for that length of time is something absolutely extraordinary. As much as I've 'bitched' about wanting to binge on pesto for the last three months.... I'm truly happy I've done this.

Anyway that's all for now :) I just woke up today and felt like I had crossed the finish line and had to do a wee post to celebrate. I've gotta get in the kitchen and make some juice now! :)

- Ben

PS: Tomorrow... at this time.... I'll be SOAKING PRUNES!!! Whahahaha! Pruuuuuuuuunes! :)

Day 91 - The only greens I want are in salad form

2008-04-13T22:52:00.003-04:00

I've been a bad juice feaster today and I could care less. It's almost over! LOL. I didn't want any green juice today so I figured "hell... why not?" So I just drank a lot of kiwi-apple juice and watermelon juice. That's it! I really want some greens... but I want them in salad form.

I think the hard part about feast-breaking will be waiting to have some salads! LOL. I guess there was so much emphasis on day 92... well really.... I don't see myself feeling "free" until salad day.

It's funny. I feel a bit bi-polar sometimes when it comes to juice feasting. I really enjoy it... but sometimes I really hate it too! *giggles* Today was a "I can't wait to be done with this" day.

I want shitake mushrooms!

I took a look at my 'before pictures' today (which I haven't looked at since I took them on day 1) and noticed A LOT of changes. I think I'll post a few pictures after all. I really wish my chest had healed more though... but that's what Phase II is for. :)

Today I had:

1.25ml water+msm+lemon
5.5L watermelon
3L apple/kiwi
2Tbsp bee pollen

Tomorrow's the last juicy day!!! :)

- Ben

Day 90 - Bedroom Bliss

2008-04-12T23:13:00.000-04:00

It's day 90 and juice feasting truly is coming to a close. As most of you know, this has been my second weekend off since August of last year. I decided today would be a mandatory "stay in bed all day" day. Pure utter bliss!

I made juice, went back to bed and only got up to get mason jars out of the fridge and to go pee! :P I flipped through all those cookbooks I got and somehow didn't get madly hungry. My favorite cookbook by far is "Raw" by Charlie Trotter. I cannot believe how beautiful this cookbook is. I have to admit... the recipes are daunting and this is definitely not your 'tuesday dinner' type of cookbook. It's beyond five star 'cooking' in my opinion. But that's the kinda thing I like ;) Beautiful. I think this cookbook will live on my coffee table. :)

My second favorite so far is Ani's cookbook mainly because there are tons of recipes without nightshades. I find so many raw recipes have tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes and peppers as main ingredients. It makes it really hard when you're trying to avoid those ingredients.

Totally happy with my purchases. Holy shit though... "Conscious eating" is the size of a bible! (actually... I think bigger than a bible!).

I watched "Crazy Sexy Cancer" today and it was really inspiring. :)

I think maybe something I'll need to do when I start eating again is plan out all my meals a week ahead of time. I need to make a little calendar and write out everything I'm going to eat. I think this will help me stay on track with an alkaline diet and also ensure I don't waste any produce. I'm kind of "getting" what people who have stopped juice feasting are talking about when they mention how they find it overwhelming and confusing choosing what to eat. I think the 'calendar' will help with that :)

....Did I mention how awesome it was to stay in bed all day? :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+lemon+msm
1.25L celery/kale/spinach/dandelion+E3live+Hsalt+kelp
2.5L watermelon juice
3L apple/kiwi
2Tbsp bee pollen

Today I did:

MSM lotion
Stay in bed all day
Inspirational DVD
Napping
(I really need to start exercising again! Le sigh!)

Okay... totally random but... I just got the SWEETEST comment on facebook from my friend and former colleague (from my old flight attendant days) Robyn:

So Mister Ben, I have been reading up on what you have been accomplishing and have been reading your blog and I have to say that I am very impressed. But I guess I always knew that when you said you were going to do something you did and you did it well. CONGRATS!

Robyn... you're so SWEET! :) *hugs* It's still very weird for me to think that my 'real life' friends are reading this blog sometimes. Maybe that's because I talk about enemas so much on here ;) Hahaha. Whatever... in the flight attendant world, we ended up talking about our insides lots... stupid cabin pressure made us bloat like 3 month pregnant women! :P

That's all for today! :)

- Ben

Day 89 - My cookbooks are here!

2008-04-11T23:45:00.002-04:00

Yesiree Bob! My cookbooks have arrived. Unfortunately, I didn't have a cute delivery guy as pictured above. I got home to a door hanger advising me I had to go pick up my package at the post office. That's a 30lbs box and I have no car! Solution? Bring the box home Africa-style. I balanced that box on top of my head and made my way home. Honestly, it's the easiest way to carry boxes if you have a good sense of balance. It didn't even feel like I was carrying anything at all!

The pile of books is currently precariously balanced on my night-table and I'm in bed. I plan to stay here (in bed) all day tomorrow and flip through all these books. Yay!

Did I mention that... it's midnight right now and I'm not at work? Urgh... It's going to be so nice to have a weekend off and give my body a break from changing its internal clock.

Anyway... I thought I would have some fun tonight before going to bed so I'm stealing Hanlie's little Friday fun thing: The bucket list. It's a bit corny but here's my top 10 things to do before I croak.

1. Visit Easter Island

2. Make my way through a hedge maze (a really big one!)

3. Go eat at Pure Food and Wine (soon!!)

4. Live in Berlin for a year or two

5. Live in Costa Rica (again... but for longer)

6. Get married (hey! It's legal in Canada, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands!)

7. Have flawless skin (soon too!)

8. Study at the Hippocrates Institute and the Living Light Culinary Institute

9. Write my own cookbook (soon!)

10. Eat some PESTO!!!! (hahahaha! Soon too... in a week!)

Well that was fun :)

Now onto business. Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/parsley/dandelion (whoa! too much parsley today!)
2L grape/blood orange/strawberry/acai
3L watermelon
1.75 pineapple/pomegranate/strawberry/blood orange (possibly the tastiest juice yet!)
2 Tbsp bee pollen
Enzymes

Today I did:

Skin brushing
6.5km biking (in the rain!)
1.6km walk

Lots 'o love

- Ben

Day 88 - Nut mylk bag suicide

2008-04-10T23:04:00.001-04:00

Well, this morning was interesting. My nut mylk bags decided to commit collective suicide. One of them literally ripped in half (well not literally… but … ripped in quarter isn’t really common parlance). The other one has a giant hole in it. I’ve been double bagging for a while… but there’s no way I could go on with this. I really was hoping I could make it to the end of juice feasting without buying some more nut mylk bags.

Luckily today was mega-groceries day which means my dad drives my non-driver’s-license-carrying-ass around town to get groceries. We made a pit stop so I could go pick up some nut mylk bags at SimplyRaw. Phew! Crisis obverted!

Oh! I also bought PRUNES today. PRUNES! It felt so weird buying them, after all this time. I mean, I used to go to the grocery store and just stare at them. Now I finally get to buy them. Yipee. I also bought some wasabi powder (some natural stuff with no artificial colorants etc). I can’t wait to have some good raw sushi and I definitely needed to invest in some healthy wasabi.

I still have a few things on my shopping list. Essentially, what I bought today was enough to carry me until Wednesday (Prune II day). I plan to go back to the health food store and buy more ‘watery veggies and fruits’ for “fruit I and II day” and stuff for “salad I and II days” later on next week. I definitely need to go buy some probiotics for when I start eating again. I was re-reading feast-breaking in Angela’s ebook and apparently I need to get some stuff to strengthen my colon? Fuck… I thought I was done buying supplements. Sigh. I guess I’ll go look for some Triphala or something on Monday when I go buy some probiotics.

Today I had:
1.25ml water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/apple+E3live+maca+kelp+Hsalt (NASTY SHIT!)
3.5L watermelon juice
1.75L pineapple/blackberry/blood orange
1.75L red globe grape/blood orange/strawberry/acai
2Tbsp Bee pollen
Enzymes

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
6.5KM biking (4 miles)

Well that’s all for today! :)

- Ben

Day 87 - My class is almost full !!! :)

2008-04-09T19:46:00.000-04:00

There's only 2 spaces left for both my "Asian dinner party" raw cooking class and my "Raw decadent desserts" class. Whooo hooo! This is really neat because they only posted the class 2 days ago!

I managed to catch my director today and ask him if I could take Tuesday (prunes day) off as a personal day. He said yes and I mentioned how, given the huge workload I have right now, I'll work from home that day, need there be. That works for me!

This weekend will be my first weekend off in a while... well at least, the first weekend off since August 2007 that I haven't had to BEG to get off. Whooo hooo! I think Saturday will be a "stay in bed all day". I'm getting up only to make juice and to go pee. If I knew how to install a catheter to avoid doing the latter every half hour, I would do that! hahaha. The joys of juice feasting eh? While in bed, I plan to finalize my menu... at least conceptually. I'll have to test it out next weekend. I think my brain has a flair for making recipes conceptually. I can't tell you how many times I've had recipe ideas come to me in my dreams. The challenge is going to be to stick to the budget I've been given. It's really tight! I have no idea how I'm going to make it work; I might have to buy conventional over organic and swap some ingredients... and pitch in (as in, take in part of the cost personally to make this work). Oh well... I'm doing it for the experience, not the cash right? :)

Today I had:

(ran out of MSM.... bought some later this evening for tomorrow)
1.25L celery/black kale/spinach+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/blackberry
4L watermelon juice
1.75L grapefruit/navel orange/acai
2Tbsp bee pollen
Enzymes

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Zapper
Biking 6.5km (4 miles)

Picked up some Maca today! It finally arrived! Hopefully this means I won't be so cold all the time. Though, this is improving as Spring comes around. I also got my copy of "Crazy Sexy Cancer" DVD in the mail today... I'm saving that for the "weekend of fun". Cookbooks are still in Richmond BC apparently. Hopefully I'll get them by Friday! YAY!

- Ben

Day 86 - It's really starting to sink in now...

2008-04-08T20:01:00.004-04:00

Typing "Day 86" was pretty weird just now. Jeez... these numbers are huge... Jeez... Day 92 is only 6 days away. Where the hell did the time go? Juice feasting was this insurmountable mountain just a few weeks ago. Juice feasting, a few months ago, was something I thought only a yogi on a mountain (with a vitamix) somewhere could accomplish. I'm almost done this thing. Sigh.

Don't get me wrong. I can't wait to have solid food again and have a bit of a 'honeymoon period' with raw foods again but... I can't help but wonder... will I miss juice feasting? I kind of think I will. As much as juice feasting is challenging and alienates you from the social norms... there's something really great about it.... a feeling of lightness perhaps. God... I hope I don't start feeling mega-bloated again.

I read a really great post on my lovely friend Kyle's blog. I think there's a piece worth quoting here:

"Essentially, I unfairly have put juice on a throne and convinced myself that by doing a long term feast it would magically "solve all my problems" and I would be trouble free at the "end" of this long hard journey. Well, folks, as much good as it did do, it certainly did not solve all of my problems [...]"

I feel so relieved to have read this post from someone who has just recently ended their juice feast. I must confess, when I started this juice feast, I too expected juice feasting to solve all my problems and I expected to be 100% psoriasis-free by the end of this juice feast. I'm not there yet. There have been many many improvements that only I can see. Namely, I don't vaccum everyday anymore. I'm flaking A LOT less. I'm not cracking or bleeding anymore. That being said, my arms still have large patches on them and my chest has a lot of healing left to do. On a more positive note, my legs are almost fully healed and my face has no patches on them whatsoever. I'm convinced that a raw diet high in greens will help the healing process further. Let's face it, I haven't been the "best juice feaster" out there. I'm doing a lot of fruit juices and not many green juices lately. There are green veggies I love eating in their natural form that I just can't stand in juices : romaine lettuce, cabbage, field greens, arugula... the list goes on. Once I start eating again, I'm sure this diet thing will balance itself.

With that being said, I have to disappoint everyone and tell you that I won't be posting "before/after" pictureson day 93. I hope you will all respect and understand my decision. I will, by all means, take the before and after pictures for documentary purposes but I won't post them until I've accomplished my goal of fully healing myself. I think juice feasting has spearheaded the healing process. I just don't want to post pictures and receive comments that may make me doubt the progress I know I have done. I don't want to feel like a failure in any minute form because my body didn't respond as quickly as I thought it would.

My plan right now is to focus on a healthy alkaline raw-foods diet high in greens and live foods and continue many of the 'life practices' I've learned through juice feasting. I plan to take another set of photos 3 months of now when I'm convinced more healing will have taken place.

I was VERY toxic and my psoriasis was really severe. It was a bit foolish of me to think I could heal it in 3 months... but the changes that I have experienced so far have been nothing short of miraculous. It may take another 3 months, it may take another year... but I *know* deep inside me that the healing has begun.... and that's what's important.

I hope I haven't disappointed anyone. I will post a video on day 93 (guess what, I have a video I did on day -1 that I never posted... so you guys will have a bit of a 'before and after' anyway!) :).

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/black kale/dandelion/cilantro
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/blackberry
4.25L watermelon
1.5L grapefruit/navel orange/acai
3Tbsp bee pollen
enzymes

Today I did:

Zapper (with a new battery!)
13km (about 8 miles) of biking (I biked to Hull to dismantle my kiosk only to found out someone had already done it... such a waste of time... but at least I exercised!)

Oh... are you wondering about today's picture?? I found money in my mailbox today!!! A 90$ GST refund in my mailbox today along with a letter from Starbucks. I worked at Starbucks last year for about a month when I got laid off; I needed a job and ANY job would do until I found something better. Well apparently there's a 200$ cheque somewhere out there that starbucks sent me that was never cashed! They're sending me a new one! COOOL!!! 290$ in my pocket! :) That totally pays for the cookbooks I just bought.... but... I'm tempted to use this money to buy a 9 tray dehydrator now! LOL (I only own a small 4 tray apartment sized Excalibur right now).

I didn't get a chance to talk to my director today seeing as I was mega-busy and he was in and out of the office. I'll try to catch him tomorrow and ask him about taking a 'personal day' on next Tuesday.

That's all folks,

- Ben

Day 85 - One week to go!

2008-04-07T20:58:00.001-04:00

Next Monday will be my last 'juicy day'. Everyone at work is very excited about this and I keep getting questions like "what are you going to eat?" "are you afraid of shocking your system?" "when is your last juicy day?". It's cute! :) My coworker and cell-mate (our cubicles are in the same cluster... people joke we're cell-mates) Eileen actually has April 14th marked on her calendar as "Ben's last juicy day".

I'm considering taking Tuesday (AKA "prunes day") off. I think this would be a good idea... or maybe ask my Director if I can work from home that day. I don't see myself working and eating prunes or feeling rushed in the morning to eat them, have a BM and rush to work. I feel I should take that day to reflect and meditate. What do you think?

I had a kiosk to set up this morning at 7am so I was up at 4AM making juice again. Luckily I had a ride to where I was going so I didn't have to worry about biking to the event with my juices or taking a cab or whatever. That was nice. :) I think kiosks won't be the bane of my existence once I stop juice feasting. I now realize the reason why they annoy me so much is that the logistics of doing kiosks seems to impede on my juice routine and therein lies the source of my aggravation.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/dandelion/cilantro
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/pomegranate
3L watermelon juice
1.5L apple-kiwi
3Tbsp bee pollen
enzymes

Today I did:

Skin brushing
(no biking today!)

Well that's all for today. I CAN'T wait for my cookbooks to get here!! They were shipped from Vancouver today so hopefully I'll get them by the end of the week! :)

- Ben

Day 84 - I'm free!

2008-04-06T20:48:00.000-04:00

Well, that's it. No more second job. Today was my last shift at the hotel. I was totally wired by the end of it and I spent most of the day watching tele and vegging out. I can't wait to spend my free weekends making tons of food in the dehydrator hehehe.

Today I had:

(shit...forgot the msm again!)
1L celery/spinach/dandelion/cilantro+E3live
3L watermelon juice
1.5L apple-kiwi
1.5L grapefruit/orange/acai
2Tbsp bee pollen
Enzymes

Today I did :

Skin brushing
5Km bike ride

Sleep: 10:00 - 12:00
TV: loads and loads of TV... it's TV day today. Finally caught up on Idol... again! :) Where are my new episodes of House??? Stupid writer's strike! Grrr!

- Ben

Day 83 - Shop 'til you drop!

2008-04-05T22:49:00.000-04:00

I freakin' love Barbara Kruger!

Day 83 started like the average Saturday except... I was a man on a mission. I finished work at 8am and took the bus home. I slept from 9:00 to 11:00 and got up to make some juice. I packed those two juices in my backpack and biked all the way 'across the border' (the Quebec border, that is) to go get a haircut. I've had the same hairdresser since I was 15... I like to joke that most people are more loyal to their hairdressers than their spouses lol! Mine is amazing; we speak the same language. I have impeccable trust in her. Sometimes I just let her decide what to do; colour, cut, everything. Today I knew exactly what I wanted... and I forwent getting colour done. I figured, I've done so much detoxing... why add more toxins back in? Luckily, most of the highlights I had from December are still showing with this new cut.

After the cut, I went to the bookstore to get a 270$ gift card so I could buy a plethora of cookbooks online... more on that in a bit.

I also realized I had forgotten to set the kiosk and materials aside for my delivery guy to pick up on Sunday night so I had to bike to work to do that. I totally didn't care that I was "at work" on Saturday (meh, it took 15 minutes). It was SO nice outside and biking around the city was bliss!

I finally biked to Rogers to pay my cell phone bill (which was way overdue! oops!) and biked home. Total: 20KM (12.5 miles) ! The worst part was.... I was running on 2Tbsp of bee pollen for most of that. I only had my green juice after hitting the bookstore. Juicy power baby!!! :)

Today I had:

1.25ml water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/dandelion/cilantro
1.75L pineapple/blood orange/acai
1.25L grapefruit/blood orange/acai
1.5L apple/kiwi
4Tbsp bee pollen+agave (eep! ... though I'm sure my body needed that after biking so much)

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
25.5 Km (16 miles) bike ride (added in the 11:30PM bike ride to the hotel)
Got some sun!! :)

Sleep: 09:00-11:00 | 18:30 - 21:00
TV rule: cheated; watched TIVO'd "The Matrix"

Oh so in case you're wondering.... here's what my shopping spree included:

Books:

- Detox your world - Shazzie
- Detox delights - Shazzie
- Living on live foods - Alyssa Cohen
- Conscious Eating: Second Edition - Gabriel Cousens
- Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine - Gabriel Cousens, Tree Of Life Cafe Chefs
- I Am Grateful: Recipes And Lifestyle Of Cafe Gratitude - Terces Engelhart, Orchid
- 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food - Gabriel Cousens, Victoria Boutenko
- Raw Food Made Easy: For 1 or 2 People - Jennifer Cornbleet
- Raw - Charlie Trotter
- Living Cuisine - Renee Underkoffler
- Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipies - Ani Phyo
- Raw - Juliano
- The Raw Gourmet - Nomi Shannon

Ebooks :

Easy Entrees - Kristen Suzanne http://www.kristensraw.com/
Desserts - Kristen Suzanne http://www.kristensraw.com/
Raw 'n Delish - http://www.rawndelish.us/

DVD:

Crazy Sexy Cancer - Kris Karr

Misc:

Perfect Pickler - Whooo hooo!! Sauerkraut!! :)

..... I think it's time for an intervention... no? :P

- Ben

Day 82 - Crazy Juicy Monkey Mayhem

2008-04-04T23:25:00.001-04:00

Today was just one of those days at work; I had a million and a half things to do and somehow the shit was hitting the fan left, right and center. I was also asked to run to the other campus (twice) to drop off stuff for a very high-level event. Somehow I managed to get done everything that needed to get done.

I biked to work this morning figuring that the weather network would be accurate; they announced 3mm of rain in the afternoon. I figured I could bike through that. Nope! Totally started snowing in the early afternoon...and snowing a lot! Luckily by the time I left work it had turned to light rain and the roads were just wet... no trace of snow. Once I start biking, I seriously start having an aversion to taking the bus.

I got home and found out that one of the workshop presenters can't teach his workshop that weekend and consequently... I've been asked to teach TWO workshops on raw food in one day! This is exciting cause I get DOUBLE the time. I'm thinking "Asian dinner party" (appetizers, sushi, noodle dish) and "Raw Decadent Desserts I" will be the themes for my workshops. I'm trying as hard as I can to come up with desserts that won't require sitting in the fridge overnight (what's the point of that? you come to a workshop, you wanna taste the food right?). I think I have it figured out.... this is going to take some experimenting. There's definitely going to be a raw date square in there... I'm seriously craving that lately :)

Today I had:

(skipped the water+msm and felt it all day :( poo!)
1.25L celery/red kale/cilantro/dandelion greens+kelp+E3live+Hsalt
3L watermelon juice
1.5L grape/blood orange/strawberry
1.5L grape/blood orange/strawberry/acai
1.75L pineapple/pomegranate/blood orange
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro/dandelion greens+E3live+Hsalt
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
Enzymes

Holy shit... I just did the math just now... that's 10.25L of juice! New record lol! That's kinda nuts when you think that your average water-cooler holds 18L jugs of water. I drank more than half a water-cooler jug worth of juice! LOL

Today I also did:

Acupeds
Zapper
Skin brushing
6.5 KM (4 miles) bike ride to work

Sleep: 0:00 - 06:00 + 18:00 to 21:00

Poop report! My coworker at the hotel, Laura, was curious about my poop today! LOL. I thought I would mention, not only am I still having solid BMs on day 82... but I'm having MORE BMs than when I started juice feasting. I'm going 2-3 times a day like 'normal people' which is great. For the life of me, I don't understand where it's coming from but I just shrug and flush now. This pretty much started with the parasite cleanse... which I'm still unsure accomplished anything but giving me clove-flavored burps. Meh! It's preventative right? :)

Schalf gut!

- Ben

Day 81 - Mega groceries and mega watermelons

2008-04-03T22:20:00.002-04:00

I must admit, I'm happy today was my second last 'mega groceries' day. I'm wondering just how much money I'm going to spend on a raw food diet now.... I hope it's a bit less than what I'm spending on juice feasting now. I know when I was raw last year (little greens, lots of nuts) I was spending less money. I definitely want a diet that's mainly fruits and vegetables with 10-15% nuts/fats. I was getting way too much protein and fat on my last raw attempt...and that's typical of raw-newbies. Summer's also coming so this means I'll be able to go to the organic farmer's market to get a lot of stuff.

Watermelons are hard to find right now but my dad said he had seen some at Cosco. I hate Cosco with a passion. First of all, all the food in there is processed to no end and sold in huge portions. I noticed something about Cosco for the first time yesterday: there are a lot of overweight people shopping there. The painful thing was seeing my dad buy all this junk for him and the family. A 4 pack of double chocolate chip cookies, 2 huge bags of dorito corn chips, turkey burgers, a huge box of beef jerky.... the only healthy thing I think he bought was a 4 pack of orange juice (pasteurized but still 100% pure). I bought 4 VERY BIG watermelon.... I did, afterall, buy them at Cosco... and they are known for selling things "bigger". I was a bit annoyed that I could have gotten 4 times the amount of organic strawberries for the same price... though, the Cosco strawberries were not organic. I think it's especially important to buy organic when it comes to berries and fruits that don't have thick skins. I really hate to admit it but... I was getting some MAJOR cravings for certain foods when I was in there........ namely pesto (of course!), chocolate croissants, bean salads, tabouleh, tortilla chips, breton crackers, artichoke hearts, mini quiches, smoked meat...... oh yea... I'm not kidding AT ALL... this kid was craving SMOKED MEAT! I needed to get out of that store...fast. I was kind of sad when I realized I won't be able to have "smoked wheat" (a mock smoked meat made of soy and wheat gluten) anymore. That stuff was really good once in a while... with tons of mustard on white bread.

And I thought vegans were "healthy". LOL. Well we are for the most part... but we succumb more and more easily to 'processed foods' as the vegan thing becomes more mainstream and more businesses start to cater to that demographic.

My dad did tell me he was pretty impressed and 'tips his hat' to me for making it this far into the juice feast. That felt pretty good :) My dad has been amazing through this...driving me to 3-4 different places to get all the ingredients I need for a week of juice feasting. He's also pitched in a few times (buying a crate of coconuts here, watermelons there, etc). I have amazing parents... now if only I could get them to change their dietary habits a bit... Soon! :)

I got tons of goodies this week! Very exciting!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/red kale/cilantro/parsley+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
1.5L grapefruit/blood orange/blackberry/acai berry
1.75L orange/apple/carrot
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/acai

Today I did:

Skin brushing
Acupeds
6.5 KM (4 miles) bike ride to work
(legs still hurting a bit... got to work a bit faster)

That's all for today! :) I have more exciting news for tomorrow! Stay tuned!

- Ben

Day 80 - It's Q & A day

2008-04-02T21:12:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. It's day 80! I can honestly see the finish-line in the distance. It's unreal that this journey is soon coming to an end. There is a part of me that will miss juice feasting... probably more than I care to admit it. I remember (when I first heard about juice feasting last year and read Angela's blog in its entirety) reading about she actually wanted to KEEP ON juice feasting. I didn't get it. I kind of get it now in a way... but I don't have that desire. I'm definitely ready for solid foods.

On that note... I've received a few questions lately and I wanted to take this opportunity to answer them.

Mish asked: How many times did you wanna quit?

I'm sure, unconsciously, several times per day. I'm sure every time I had a craving for pesto, there was a part of me that wanted to throw in the towel. That being said, I didn't feel an overwhelming need or "want" to quit. Those daily 'wanting to quit' moments were maybe a "2" on a scale of 1 to 10. I did have a few moments that were "8"s or "9"s though. Maybe 2 or 3. I remember wanting to quit around day 3-4 when I kept getting really intense pains in my stomach... but the desire to heal was stronger. I will definitely say that something weird tends to happen between day 30-50... there was a period there that I honestly was secretly ready to quit but decided I would make it to day 50 to prove one of my friends wrong (who told me I wouldn't make it past day 50)... once at day 50 I decided I would go to at least day 60. At day 60 it got a lot easier. That second month is killer though... I can see why many people chose to end their feast during the second month; you've already accomplished so much and yet the finish line seems so far away still. All I have to say is David's wise advice kept me sane on my most challenging days: everyone juice feasts for just one day: today. This became my mantra. Just focus on today. Don't look towards the finish line... just get through today. This is the same advice they give alcoholics at AA ("one day at a time") and it works:

In the first few rocky days of recovery, just abstaining for that moment, hour, etc. is truly all we can do. If we can't do that, there's no point in worrying about tomorrow, or next week, or whenever. The One Day at a Time philosophy has benefits far beyond the early days in recovery. It can keep us grounded in the present – that Holy Instant that is so easy to miss in a busy and productive life.

My coworker Eileen asked me a really neat question: Have you decided what your "last juice" will be?

Now... I was quick to point out that there is no such thing as a 'last juice'. Juicing will continue to be a life practice that I will embrace for the rest of my life. Now, she of course knew this... but what she meant was... did I plan on celebrating my last juice feasting day (day 92) by having a special juice to end that day. I never gave this that much thought... but she's right... that day is as important as the pivotal "soaked prunes day". I think I will definitely try to have the ingredients on hand to make some "Ben's orgasmic 69" juice (see day 69).

I also got the following question from an anonymous user: Ben, do you think you'll be strictly raw vegan now? or go back to some cooked?

This is a question I've asked myself several times before and during the juice feast. I still don't have a firm answer. I have come to a few conclusions, however. I believe that the true path for me is raw-veganism and I will definitely happily and willingly embark once again on the raw-bandwagon. I did realize that the pitfall of my previous attempt at going raw was adopting an 'all or nothing' attitude. The night on which I put an end to my last raw attempt, I binged on an entire butternut squash I had cooked in the oven... I felt so inherently guilty... like a weight-watchers champ would feel after caving an eating an entire box of Krispie Kreme doughnuts. But really... there are WORST things out there than cooked butternut squash. With that in mind, I'm going to be 'easy on myself'. My goal will be 100% raw... but if I so choose to have the occasional steamed artichoke or steamed butternut squash... I'm not going to run to the raw-confessional and do 10 hail-Wigmores. I'm definitely going to try my best to not ever have wheat products again... but I fear that the addiction to wheat is stronger than we realize it is. I do feel that through juice feasting though, I have been able to detox myself of most of my addictions to cooked foods (for the exception of artichokes and butternut squash... for whatever reason, I really want those!). I also have a strong craving for the Quiznos veggie sub but alas, I think that's one craving that I'll have to live without in my post-feast life. I'm toying with the idea of having a "cooked day" once per month where I allow myself to have cooked foods (as long as they be whole-foods and wheat-free) in a completely guilt-free setting. I also feel that when going to restaurants, I may allow myself to have some cooked whole foods in much the same manner. But to wrap this up and quit rambling... yes... the goal is 100% raw... with some occasional guilt-free flexibility.

I'm actually really excited about salad and greens... as much as I'm a bit apathetic towards green juices at the moment... I must admit, I can't wait to be getting in MORE greens in my diet in the form of SALADS! :) I also can't wait to have my morning cilantro smoothies and some green soups. I'll definitely become a fan of the 'four means to get your greens' methodology. :)

Penni didn't know it... but she inadvertently asked a question that I want to answer: I can't wait to eat vicariously through you once you are back on whole foods. I know you'll have some really good stuff for all of us, won't you?

Yes! Tons of good stuff. I'll feel bad to torture you poor juice feasters that I leave behind, as I transition back to solids but... I love being in the kitchen and conjuring up recipes and you can bet your mason jars I'll be creating raw-delights and posting them on a raw-vegan blog that I'm already working on. I had a vegan (cooked) recipe blog for a while (see left-hand link column) and I plan on creating one with raw recipes too.

Lisa asked: Are you going to keep blogging???

You bet your Vitamix, I am! I will most likely stop blogging on THIS specific blog so that people can quickly reference my juice feast without having to skim through tons of additional stuff. I plan on creating two new blogs:

"A healthy conspiracy" will document my daily activities, what I eat, how my healing is progressing, etc...

"A crunchy conspiracy" will be my raw recipe blog where I plan to post recipes and LOTS of raw-food porn. :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I think that covers all the questions. If I've ever missed a questions of yours, by all means, ask me on this post. If you have any more questions... now's the time. I'll do another Q & A post come day 90 if I get enough questions... otherwise I'll just answer your question personally. :)

Today I had :

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/red chard/cilantro/parsley+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
3L watermelon juice
1.5L apple-kiwi
1.5L berry berry good juice
(blood orange/grape/strawberry/blackberry/acai berry)
10 parasite pills
Enzymes
2Tbsp bee pollen+agave
dipped into the honey ... :(

Today I did:

Acupeds
Zapper
Skin brushing
6.5 KM (4 miles) bike ride to work (so out of shape!!)
Chiropractic adjustment

Actually.. about the bike ride to work... biking with 5 litres of juice in a backpack is HARD WORK. Holy moly! Maybe I'm not so out of shape hahaha. :)

My chiropractor keeps saying how smooth the skin on my face is. :) I'm still annoyed at that red spot on my nose which my chiro said is barely noticeable. She mentioned that although, yes, that spot is linked to the small intestine... that doesn't necessarily mean that it has to do with the intestines as much as it has to do with absorption... it was cryptic but I'm happy I'm taking enzymes again because I liked how I felt while I was taking those. Mmmm Enzymes! :)

- Ben

Day 79 - What a day!

2008-04-01T21:23:00.007-04:00

I woke up today and felt really intensely depressed for no reason. I hated my life, I hated my job... I honestly would have taken a personal day and wallowed in self-pity but I had a kiosk to host today at work.

Things got better when I got to work and had some juice. I ended up taking the bus home and once I got home I decided I should go to the health food store and pick up a few things. Seeing as it was such a nice day and the roads were looking safe again, I decided it was time to bring out the bike. It was SUCH a windy day though and I quickly realized... after not having biked all winter... that I was really out of shape! My legs were killing me!

I bought tons of veggies and fruits and even some frozen unpasteurized acai berry pulp. Sweet! While at the cash, I was memorized by these raw truffles made by a local company. The girl at the cash said "they're really good!" to which I replied "oh I'm sure they are... it's just... I'm fasting right now.".... there was a moment of silence and I totally didn't realize it but... the cashier was totally confused at the comment "I'm fasting" contrasted with the 75$ worth of produce I just bought! LOL hahahahahahah. I guess that would be like having a client say "I'm vegan" while buying 10lbs of steak, eh? :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+lemon+msm
1.25L celery/collard greens/parsley+E3live+Hsalt+kelp
3L watermelon juice
1.5L kiwi/apple
1.5L blood orange/red globe grape/strawberry/acai
2 Tbsp bee pollen
10 Parasite pills

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Acupeds
Zapper
7.5km bike ride (4.5 miles)

TV... Well I wathed "The Birds" by Hitchcock... it was commercial-free! :)
Sleep: 12:00 to 6:00... eep! :)

... I'm SO biking to work tomorrow! :) So tired of the bus! :)

- Ben

Day 78 - I'm a newborn again!

2008-03-31T19:32:00.000-04:00

Today, I'm supposed to be '0 years old' according to the retracing rule. I checked and well... my belly button is still there. Whoo hoo! I was so tired when I woke up this morning. I honestly am looking forward to not having to spend so much time in the kitchen in the morning. I'm also looking forward to making meals ahead of time (Sunday meal extravaganzas!!).

I found out there's a stupid office pot-luck going on on the 17th. I'll be in my 'watery veggies and fruit' stage. I hate pot-lucks to begin with... because they're not the most vegan-friendly thing. But now... it's just downright inconvenient. Oh... we also have to go curling. Curling!?! Who came up with this idea!? I don't know anyone who actually goes curling.... just in case anyone out there thinks it's something all Canadians do. ;) That should be an interesting week.

Hanlie gave me an award today; the 'nice matters' award. I was at work when I found out so I told my coworker Eileen "I got a "nice matters award" to which she replied "What?!! You're not nice!?!?". LOL!!! I'm a bit of a sarcastic bitch most of the time. I think there's something humorous about being cynical sometimes. :P Anyway... I just thought that was funny. I'll try to remember that 'nice matters'. Thanks Hanlie! :)

Actually... on that note, a lady asked me if I had change for a $10 last friday at the bus stop. I guess she didn't have change for the bus and the bus was within sight. I didn't have the change but I just gave her the 2$ she was missing. She was so thankful. I figured, I can't count the times I wish someone would have done that for me. I don't understand why our buses here don't work like in the UK where you can actually pay with notes and get change! Anyway, I was on the bus today and that lady found me (totally forgot about it lol)... she gave me some bus tickets today to repay me for the 2$. I thought it was so cute that she remembered! :) Awww! :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/collard greens/parsley
3L watermelon juice
1.5L pineapple/blackberry
1.5L grapefruit juice

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Zapper (all day)

Well that's all from this end kiddos :)

- Ben

Day 77 - Another lazy day

2008-03-30T23:51:00.000-04:00

The kitchen is a mess and I really should be doing laundry but Sundays are the closest thing to a day off as I get right now so I say: “why do today what can be put off until tomorrow?”. Besides, Sunday is TV day so I need to maximize the amount of time I can watch TV. LOL. I had so much stuff loaded onto my TIVO… I think I spent most of the day under my duvet…veging out on the couch. I think we all need those ‘do nothing’ days. One more weekend, Ben…. One more weekend…

I talked to my friend Marissa today on MSN. She’s one of the only people I still talk to from my Art School days. Marissa freakin’ gives me a self esteem boost every time we talk. I told her of my plans to study at the Living Light culinary school and also do the health educator program at Hippocrates. She was really encouraging! Marissa is coming over to my place two weekends from now to help me prepare for the raw-cooking class I’m teaching. I need a ‘live audience’ to practice on to make sure I can teach everything I want to do in 1.5hours. Hehehe :) This should be fun! Love you Marissa!

Today I had:

1.25L celery/kale/dandelion/cilantro
1.5L kiwi/apple
1.5L pineapple/blood orange
750ml grapefruit/orange
Today I also did:Vegging out! Come on… that’s gotta count for something right? I know I know… really should start doing yoga again. Argh!

Previous night’s sleep …uhh day:
8:30am to 1:30pm (much better than the 0 sleep I used to get on Sundays)
TV day! Hurray! Finally caught up on idol! :)

Oh… good news… I’m not a juicy monster afterall. David and Katrina assured me that my body knows best and there’s no such thing as ‘too much juice’ on the juice feast. Good to know!

Lots of love everyone!

- Ben

Day 76 - Lights out!

2008-03-29T22:56:00.000-04:00

How was your earth hour? Did you turn your lights off? I honestly had no idea this was even happening until it came up in a team meeting on Friday. I guess this is what happens when you have a strict "no TV rule" during the week. I feel like I should be reading the newspaper or something... but I'd rather be reading about health issues than depressing world issues. Does that make me shallow or something? Nah... I just want to surround myself with positive things right now... :)

Now... I actually slept through most of 'earth hour' because it fell into my 'pre-work nap' time. I did wake up at 8:30 to start prepping food by candle light to go into the vitamix. As soon as 9:00 hit though, the vitamix went on and I started juicing like a mad-man. For a zombie day, I drank lots of juice today again.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.5L apple/kiwi
1.25L celery/kale/cilantro/parsley/dandelion+kelp+E3live+Hsalt
1.5L blood orange/red globe grapes/strawberry
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/blackberry
1.25L celery/red chard/spinach/cilantro+E3live+Hsalt

7 litres today! Nuts! :)

Today I did:

Skin brushing
Zapper

Sleep: 10am to 2pm 5:30pm to 8:30pm

I don't have much more to report... I mean... I did sleep most of the day away :P

- Ben

Day 75 - Parade of food

2008-03-28T21:12:00.002-04:00

If any of you are confused by what's gone on with my blog over the last three days, I apologize. It's been a tumultuous stretch and I've just now had the time and will to update it. I've backdated each entry for blogging accuracy.

Today was actually a lot of fun... especially when I woke up to find out my headache from hell was gone!

Today was my manager's last day before leaving on maternity-leave. We had organized a little get-together at a central location... an all-you-can-eat American-style buffet. I went and made it clear to the waitress that I was fasting and would only get a tea or something. I sat there with my chamomile tea as 30 fellow coworkers engaged in an endless parade of food. I don't know if there's anything more sickening than all-you-can-eat buffets to be quite honest. The really weird food pairings, the nauseating mixture of smells... seeing people stuff 3 to 5 plates of food down their throats. It's all just very nauseating. Actually... that's how I felt by the end. Nauseated. To the point where I really was feeling sick... by that time, it was time to leave... thankfully. First thing I did when I got to work; run for my juice! I felt MUCH better after. Though, I still had wheatgrass burps from the shot I had right before lunch at a local juice bar. I really hate wheatgrass. I think I'll just take it up the butt from now on! LOL

I feel positive about my work situation. Things do have a way of working out in the end.... I'm not being demoted which is good (as opposed to the former options in which I would have gotten term with benefits with a demotion). I'm keeping my same rate of pay (which I can renegotiate come April 21rst) and I've quit the hotel so I'll just have more 'me time'... which is especially good for the summer.

I think it's time to bring out the bike!! :) It's been so nice out lately that I think it's time to start biking to work again. I just have to figure out a way to transport 5L of juice to work everyday. I think I'll need to invest in a good pannier. This will also be useful for groceries at the farmer's market during the summer! :) I can't wait! :)

*yawn*

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1L watermelon juice
1.25L celery/spinach/cilantro/dandelion greens+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
1.5L Pineapple/blood orange/blackberry
50ml wheatgrass
1.25L watermelon juice
1.25L watermelon juice
500ml grapefruit juice
1.5L blood orange/red globe grape/strawberry
1.25L celery/collard greens/cilantro/parsley+E3live
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
10 Parasite pills

Whoa... I hit a new record today without knowing it. 9.5 Litres! How is this possible? Should I be concerned? LOL! Hanlie mentioned that other juice feasters are experiencing this increase in juice too... I haven't really noticed? Is it a planetary thing or is it just a stage in the juice feast we all reach at some point?

Today I also did:

Not much... got home and napped... for got to skin brush again.
Zapper (all day)

Prev night's sleep: 10PM to 6AM. Was nice to get a good 8 hours sleep and get rid of that massive headache.

Schlaf gut!

- Ben

Day 74 - Headache from hell

2008-03-27T22:25:00.000-04:00

I don't know if it's psychosomatic but I had the worst headache today. It started the minute I walked into work. To start with, I didn't want to be there. I totally got fucked over yesterday with this whole term job thing. Arghh! This headache was pounding into my temples. Everyone kept offering me aspirin. Are you nuts? Aspirin on a juice feast is like offering heroin to the Buddha! Sigh. It finally dawned on me (2 hours later) to apply pressure to the LV3 pressure points to try and get rid of this headache. That would work... but the headache would come roaring back. I wonder if it had anything to do with the intestinal drawing formula I took last night? Is this detox? Is it a cold? What is this!?

I totally would have gone home... but there was no way in hell that was going to happen. I had a ton of regional bulletins to finish and I had to draft a marketing strategy for a conference we're holding at the end of April. I basically worked through lunch because 1) I wasn't hungry... actually by that point, I still had not had any juice... my body didn't wanna hear it (so I just had water) and 2) I didn't know when I'd be done the damn stuff.

By 1PM or so I decided I wanted juice... but I didn't want my morning green juice at all. I wanted my happy pineapple juice. I felt a bit better after that. I had some watermelon juice shortly after. I ended up finishing all the work I had to do early so I decided "I worked through lunch, I'm leaving an hour early". As I was leaving I ran into a coworker I barely ever see; she asked me how my test went and I told her I never did get to do the test...she told me they were holding another test for the position I was offered (later retracted). I ran to my manager's office to tell her this... she ran to my director's office. The door was shut, phone calls were made. They fought tooth and nail for me but there was no way I would be allowed to write that test. Don't you hate red tape and bureaucracy? Anyway, in the end... I was assured that I have a job for the next 8 months nonetheless.

I went to do 'mega groceries' (and sorry to say Lisa, but I got some more organic grapes on sale!) and bought tons of yummy food.

I got home and decided I was sick of working at the hotel. So I sent my letter of resignation! LOL. I think this will do me good. The body wasn't designed to work 7 days a week... or change its body-clock once/week for that matter. My last day is April 6th. It will be nice to have weekends again. :) I mean, my first two weekends off will be consumed by that class I'm teaching... but afterwards... I want lots of "stay in bed ALL WEEKEND" weekends. I think I need to make up for lost sleep.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.5L Pineapple/orange/blackberry
2.75L Watermelon juice
1.25L Black kale/parsley+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
2Tbsp bee pollen+agave
10 Parasite pills

Today I also did:

(Frig! I forgot to skin brush today!)
Zapper all day
Acupeds (target:colon)
(That spot on my nose is going away, finally!)

That's all!

- Ben

Day 73 - What goes up must come down

2008-03-26T21:10:00.001-04:00

I found out today that the term position I had been offered at work has basically hit a bump in the road. It's not looking good right now. Sigh. Needless to say, I'm pretty bummed.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro/parsley+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
2.75L Pineapple/blackberry/orange
1.5L Watermelon juice
1L Apple/Kale+E3live+Hsalt
2Tbsp bee pollen
10 Parasite pills

6.5L of juice. The juicy-monster trend continues...

Today I also did:

10 min rebounder
20 min yoga
2L Cat's Claw enema
Zapper (all day) I think I need a new battery soon?
Acupeds (target:colon)

TV rule abided by
Previous night's sleep: 0:00AM to 6:00AM

That's all folks ... sorry for the delay!

- Ben

Day 72 - Exciting news!

2008-03-25T19:51:00.002-04:00

I'm sure most of you have been eagerly awaiting this 'amazing news' I'm supposed to give you today. Well... too bad, I'm making you simmer some more for a bit. :) I'm so cruel.

I woke up today and ... I don't know how I managed to turn off 3 alarms during my sleep but I did. I was FUCKING LATE.... sorry... Did I mention this blog is PG-13? Anyway. I was freaking out because I really couldn't afford to be late this week (I was late a few times lately and it created a really embarrassing work situation... I wasn't going to let that happen again). It was 6:40 and I needed to be out the door by 8:30. Knowing me, I need that last half hour to shower, get pretty and get out the door. This gave me 1 hour and 15 minutes to make my juice. This normally takes me 2 to 2.5 hours. I was freaking out... but I quickly put a plan of action in place and well... I ended up bringing over 6 Litres of juice to work that day! hahahaha!

Today I had:

(msm water skipped due to time pressures)
1.25L celery/red chard/cilantro/parsley/dandelion greens+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
1.5L pineapple/blackberry/blood orange/grapefruit (don't add grapefruit to this... not as good!)
3.75L watermelon juice
1.5L pineapple/blackberry/orange
500ml water+E3live
2Tbsp bee pollen+agave
10 Parasite pills

That made for 8 litres (or 8.5 if you count the water+E3live) of juice in a day.... What is up with me? I'm like the COOKIE MONSTER.... but with juice... the JUICY MONSTER!!!

Today I also did:

Acupeds (target: colon)
2L Cat's Claw enema
15 min rebounder
Oil wrap (chest)

Prev night's sleep: 11PM to 6:40am
Tonight's sleep: 11:30PM to 5:30am (sorry I realize I messed up somewhere on the blog)
TV Rule: abided by...

The oil wrap consists of massaging a mixture of olive and peanut oil into the psoriasis lesions and then wrapping yourself in cling wrap and going to bed. This basically helps loosen the dead skin cells that psoriasis is known for. I figured if I did this, it would help the skin heal faster because it wouldn't also have to deal with the accumulation of dead cells on the epidermis. Make sure you use old sheets if you do this; you will ruin them.

Okay now FINALLY I will tell you about the Amazing News! :)

Ahem... to get straight to the point.... I'm going to be teaching a raw-vegan 'cooking' class at the end of April!!!! I'm SO EXCITED !!!! Basically, this guy has monthly workshops at his house on various topics (everything from bike maintenance to web design to vegan baking). A friend of mine who did the vegan baking workshop had heard from the organizer that he wanted to do a workshop on raw foods... so she immediately thought of me. I'm so glad she did because this is the kind of thing I wish I could do for a living (and plan to... soon... I hope!). So basically people show up, donate 5$ each and that covers the cost of materials/produce and there's a wee bit left over for me too! :) Exciting. I'm trying to plan a menu already... one with 'Ben original' recipes.... although this is hard when I'm not allowed to cook. This thing on at the end April. This gives me exactly 1 weekend (my salad weekend), one week and one Saturday to perfect those recipes and taste them! I have the menu planned out in my head. The cake is something COMPLETELY original... I'm keeping that a secret... but I'll need to do a lot of experimenting in the kitchen to make sure it's flawless. I'll be using co-workers as guinea pigs I think.

...Whoooo hoooo! :)

- Ben

Day 71 - Juice-a-palooza!

2008-03-24T21:21:00.001-04:00

Days off are bliss. I really would like to take some more time off soon. I don’t think that will be possible though….unless I call in sick at the hotel which is pretty pointless for the most part unless I call in sick for the whole weekend. I wonder if I could fake getting an appendectomy or something. Sigh. Although, at this point, I’m sure if I went to see a GP and explained to him my situation, I could easily get a medical letter saying I’m having a burn-out and need to take time off from the hotel. This may be something I need to consider.

I was pretty zombified all day today. I spent most of my day doing…well… nothing. Lie in bed, do some stuff online and watch some TV. Oh yea… totally forgot about the TV rule today… but it’s a day off… I think that’s shouldn’t count, right? :)

I had a massive 8 litres of juice today. Yes, that’s right… 8 LITRES! I have no idea what was going on… I just couldn’t satisfy this really intense hunger I had. I seem to remember David saying this was one of the signs that one is ready to end the JF… but with 20 more days to go… meh! I’ll just drink more juice. In retrospect, I probably should just have had more green juice. Ooops!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/dandelion greens/cilantro+E3live+kelp+spirulina+H salt
1.5L Apple/kiwi
5.25L watermelon juice
3tbsp bee pollen+agave
10 Parasite pills

Today I did:

Skin brushing
Acupeds (target: colon)
2L Cat’s claw enema
Zapper (all day)

The good news is, I had some peace and quiet all day. Maybe Sunday’s stunt really got the message through! One could only hope.

I really need to start doing yoga and rebounding again. I have no idea why, but I have really been slacking off in that department lately. Also, I need to be doing daily enemas while doing this parasite thing. I was flipping through a magazine and I found this picture of a human face with different colours. It highlighted each area of the face and pointed to which organ it is linked. According to this, the tip of the nose is linked to the large intestine. This is interesting because since I started juice feasting, I have had a red patch in that spot. It’s not quite psoriasis but it could be I guess… in its early stages? I don’t know. But I guess more enemas couldn’t do any harm. I’m also going to target the large intestine through the acupeds. I really want to get rid of that patch on my nose!

Anyway... that's about it for now...

STAY TUNED FOR TOMORROW'S REPORT!!! EXCITING NEWS !!! :)

- Ben

Day 70 - Random ramblings

2008-03-23T22:00:00.005-04:00

As a Pastafarian, I don't really do Easter!

My mom called to wish my happy Easter today and I was so confused. I'm sorry but as a vegan atheist, this holiday is completely lost on me. I mean, this holiday only has meaning if you're Catholic, enjoy chocolate or painting eggs. I consider myself excommunicated and I don't understand why 99% of easter chocolate has to be milk chocolate. Not that it matters this year....

Wow... I'm in a really crummy mood tonight aren't I? Argh. I'm not feeling like myself tonight. Maybe I should just go to bed.... Maybe it's the sleep deprivation.... Maybe I'm just kooky!

Sorry in advance... this is going to be one long-winded post. I'm in one of those moods where all I want to do is write and ramble on endlessly about things you may or may not care about. But that's fine... because while I appreciate having an audience to bounce things off of... tonight's post is for me. I'm feeling very reflective today.

The first thing I wanted to talk about today was yesterday's dream (see day 69). Sorry for freaking everybody out... :) Lisa pointed out that I should look up how I'm doing retracing-wise to see if the dream coincided with anything. I was writing her a comment yesterday and was about to say this: "Well according to my calendar I'm 3 years old now and I don't really remember much from then other than..." and then the light bulb went off. The only memory I have of being 3 years old goes like this: my mom is sick and passed out on the couch. I decide I feel left out and I'm sick too! I go to the medicine cabinet and take two bottles of children's aspirin. I pop them open and pretty much eat the whole thing. My mom woke up and freaked out, rushed me to the hospital where they pumped my stomach. There's something EERILY similar about the dream I had last night (and the stomach/colon spasms I SWEAR I had during the dream) and this memory. Hmmm... :)

This weekend was a bit of an experiment. Working overnights at the hotel really screws things up for the juice feasting schedule, I find. When do I take my morning MSM? Should I drink juice during the night or not? Etc. These are all questions I had to find answers to. I used to not drink any juice at all from 11PM to 8AM to create consistency. The problem with this is I would be starving and light headed by the time I got home and dying for some green juice.... usually would skip the water/msm because the hunger was so consuming. Then I decided I would bring msm/lemon to work so that when I got home, the msm/water would have been drank at the hotel and I could go ahead and have green juice. The problem with that is I'd be so knackered at the hotel that I didn't care much for water/msm. Last weekend I decided to bring watermelon juice for sustenance and that actually was a pretty bright idea. This weekend I brought my evening green juice AND watermelon juice to the hotel. This I think is the way to go. The only problem with this weekend's experiment is when I got home, I had NO desire to drink green juice. My body wanted fruit juice and it wanted it NOW. I'd manage to get in my water/msm but I really wanted some sweet sweet happy juice. It's 10PM now... and I'm just NOW having my morning green juice. BAD BEN! Only 1LB of leafy greens today. Sigh.

My upstairs neighbor is a really inconsiderate woman who has no concept that bass travels more than she realizes. I've talked to her about this once before and she was completely apathetic and unapologetic. Today, she was up to her regular tricks so I thought I would teach her a lesson. I put my stereo on my fridge and my speakers in my top kitchen cabinets and pointed them to the ceiling. I set the bass on high and I put some German chick rock on. I closed the cupboard doors and put the volume on high. It wasn't so loud to me but I'm sure the bass was doing quite a number upstairs...... I'm not proud of this. But some people need to be taught lessons in considerateness. I'm still feeling shaky and distraught about this incident. I hate feeling vengeful and indignant. I just want some peace and quiet? Is that too much to ask?

I should be signing my letter of offer this week which means, the minute I sign on the dotted line, I'm emailing my letter of resignation to the hotel. The irony is, juice feasting would have been a lot easier to do without the weekend job... and by the time I quit, juice feasting will be over! LOL.

I really want a salad.

I'm really into Our Lady Peace and Smashing Pumpkins lately. It's so retro 90's and makes me feel safe in a really weird fucked up kind of way. It's probably not the most Zen music out there... and I'm sure it would kill most houseplants.... but I like it! On the plus side, I'm really into Rachael Yamagata lately too... her voice is very soothing and her lyrics very endearing. So it balances out, right? Okay I know, nice try Ben.

Fuck... I forgot... Parasite pills... BRB....

Back! I was amused to read that Carrie also enjoys the parasite pill-induced clove-flavored burps. Ouch... okay....maybe only try swallowing 2 pills at a time - not 3.

Is anyone else addicted to Scrabulous on facebook?

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon (3Tbsp msm/2 lemons)
(The above is getting very potent!)
1.5L Pineapple/Blackberry/Blood orange
1.5L Kiwi/Green Apple
1L Celery/black kale/dandelion greens/cilantro+kelp+E3live+spirulina+H salt
3Tbsp bee pollen+agave (oh yea... lazy today so I dipped into the bee pollen)
10 Parasite pills (check!)

Today I did:

Zapper (all night but not all day)

Sleep: 9am to 12:30PM (I typically don't sleep at all on Sundays so this is good guys!)
TV: Finally caught up on Idol... :P Is the writer's strike over yet?? What is going on with that? I want some new episodes of HOUSE!

Gutenachtkuß!

- Ben

Day 69 - Binging on cashews

2008-03-22T23:40:00.001-04:00

It was a nice sunny day and everyone was gathered for a nice little picnic. There I was, with my mason jar of green juice... completely hypnotized by this big bowl of cashews. I had enough... honestly... I just wanted solid food. I just wanted one cashew... but one turned into a giant handful and a giant handful turned into 5 giant handfuls. Holy shit... my stomach is NOT happy. I can feel really weird spasms in my colon area... am I going to go to the hospital? Cashews are NOT soaked prunes... I've totally shocked my system! What's going to happen to me now?

Just like that... it's all over!

...And that's when I woke up! I was so confused for a moment. I mean, that dream felt so real. I honestly was pretty sure I had eaten a bowl-full of cashews and probably needed to get my ass to the hospital. I swear, those spasms I felt in my dream felt soooo real. I was sure the JF was all over.

I would like nothing better but to binge on a bowl-full of cashews right now but the truth is, there are still 23 more days to go. I'm going to suck it up... and I'm definitely feast-breaking with PRUNES and not cashews. Whoa!

What is with these intense dreams lately??? I had a few more that aren't worth sharing... maybe it's the sleep deprivation?

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.5L kiwi-green apple
1.5L "Orgasmic 69" juice (see below)
1.25L Spinach/celery/parsley+kelp+E3live+Hsalt+Spirulina
1.5L Watermelon juice
2Tbsp bee pollen+agave
10 Parasite pills

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Zapper (all day/all night)
Lots of R&R

Sleep: 9AM to 11AM + 5PM to 8:00PM (it's a hotel night.. what can I say?)
TV: No TV today... Tomorrow is TV day though! Lots of American Idol to catch up on.

I came up with the best juice today! Isn't it just befitting that on day "69" I would come up with one hell of an orgasmic juice? *giggles*

I came up with this quite by accident but it tastes just like that really awesome fruit punch you used to get as a kid. That stuff was made from concentrate and totally loaded with sugar (dear lord... I remember seeing slogans on boxes of juice that used to say "made from 10% real juice!" ... what was the other 90%?). This stuff tastes SUPER yummy and is totally good for you! It's loaded with antioxidants and grapes are known to be a great detoxifier. Without further ado:

Ben's "Orgasmic 69" fruit punch

3 blood oranges
2lbs (1kg) of organic red globe grapes (approx)
2 pink lady apples
1 small container of blackberries

Blenderize in a Vitamix and strain through a nut milk bag. You can also do this in a juicer but I would recommend straining the pulp through a nut milk bag anyway because these ingredients are so juicy, there could be lots of juice left in your pulp! :)

That's all folks!..... Hope I didn't scare you too much into thinking I had 'fallen off the juicy wagon' ;) hehehee.

- Ben

Day 68 - The oatmeal faerie returns

2008-03-21T23:53:00.002-04:00

Well... It's Friday night and I'm stuck at the hotel again. I'm frozen again because the heating system sucks here and the area heater is broken. Oh! and I'm juice feasting...right!

I've just spent a good 2 hours looking at raw food porn on goneraw.com and I've also just finished drinking some watermelon juice.... Today was really weird!

I woke up up this morning and discovered I was flaking a lot. I mean... before I started juice feasting, I had to vacuum pretty much everyday or every other day because it was like I lived with an oatmeal faerie who would sprinkle oatmeal flakes all over my apartment. The joys of psoriasis, my friends! Everywhere I went, I'd leave little pieces of Ben-DNA. Around week 1 or 2, I had a massive flake-out and from that point on... I vacuum once a week! I barely flake anymore! Umm... but today I was flaking a lot... I'm not concerned by this at all; I'm actually encouraged by it. I think this might be a sign that I'm hitting a new phase in the healing process. I'm going to help this process along this week by doing an olive oil wrap (more on this later) to loosen the dead flakes of skin that remain...hopefully this will help expose new skin and my body will heal over those open patches with more ease.

I started my day with fruit juice today! It was weird and almost sacrilegious but that's what I wanted... and seeing as I needed to be back in bed for 6PM to nap before work, I thought my two green juices would be best suited for around 5PM and 11PM. It worked! I didn't actually have problems napping before my hotel shift tonight. Way to go intuition!

I started getting ready for work and remembered today is Good Friday; totally forgot that this meant the buses were on a special schedule. Fuuuuuuuck! There was one bus left that could get me downtown at that time of night, and it would have gotten me to work 20 minutes late. So I ran to the main street to get money out of an ATM and subsequently hunt down a cab. I walked to the sketchy area of town to the nearest strip joint where I know there are always cabs waiting. I was right!

I got to work and then had a really drunk prostitute come down from a regular perv's room asking for a cab. She spotted my green juice and parasite formula and we had a wee chat about juice feasting, green smoothies and parasites. She admitted to me that she was an alcoholic and theorized out-loud that maybe I was brought into her life in this moment as a divine intervention to inspire her to get healthy. Whoa. I'm sorry... I'm an atheist and I surely don't think of myself as divine but... you know what... I really do hope I had some sort of positive effect on this really sweet woman. It breaks my heart to see people in these situations. Sigh.

Would it make me hypocritical if I said I drenched my hands in Purell after shaking hands with her (after she left of course)? This is probably the first time since day 1 that I've put some sort of chemical on my skin but... the ex-flight attendant in me was screaming "WASH YOUR HANDS" and the Purell was staring at me with its "kills 99.9% of germs" slogan. :P

Whoa! This is already a huge post!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm (40ml)+lemon
1.25L Pineapple/Blackberry/Blood orange
1.25L Red grape/blood orange/strawberry
750ml Mix of the above two juices (extra juice that didn't fit in mason jars were combined)
1.25L celery/spinach/cilantro+E3live+kelp+H salt
1.5L watermelon juice
2Tbsp bee pollen+agave
1Tbsp honey
10 Parasite pills (I felt like a junkie taking these)

Today I also did:

Skin Brushing
Zapper (all day-all night)
Lots of R&R

Sleep: 6PM to 9:30PM (no sleep tonight... hotel... will make up for it tomorrow by napping)
TV rule: slacked on that today big time... I had a day off... I figured I could induldge! :)

Jen (the prostitute at the hotel) offered me a cigarette at one point and I had a very intense momentary craving and even considered it for a moment.... but yea 5 seconds later that desire was all gone. I would probably die right now if I had a cigarette! I feel soooo pure right now. I did have a dream 2 nights ago where I smoked (out of peer pressure?) and I felt soooo sad that I had f*cked up the whole juice feast! lol. I woke up feeling so relieved!

... Is it 8am yet? I want to go home!

- Ben

Day 67 - The Exorcist

2008-03-20T23:46:00.001-04:00

I had the most intense nightmare last night. I had this really intense dream: I was in a tube station in the UK and this woman approached me to help her child who was supposedly having a medical emergency. I asked the mother if the child was diabetic, when he last ate, etc etc (surprisingly enough, I actually remembered all my first aid training in my dream... SAMPLE:

S: Signs and symptoms
A: Allergies
M: Medications
P: Past medical history
L: Last ate
E: Events leading up to illness

We were all about acronyms in the flight attendant world.)

Okay back to the dream... So I go to this woman's house and the child is FREAKY. He knows my name and starts doing freaky stuff. The child is totally possessed. It was a really freaky dream. I ended up being able to exorcist the daemon out of the child. I don't remember much of the details but it was a scary dream! :) It's quite possible the 'exorcism' is a representation of 'expelling foul matter'. It's also possible that recent events at work that have left me feeling very indignant are the cause of this dream; the exorcism representing my will to 'urgently expel or repress the thoughts about that recent event'. Either way, it was kinda neat! I wish I could have remembered more details, I think it would have made a great movie! I often get brilliant ideas through my dreams... recently I got a recipe via a dream that I can't wait to try.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/cilantro
1.5L pineapple/orange/blackberry
1.5L watermelon juice
1.25L carrot/orange/grapefruit
1.5L pomegranate/red grapes/blood orange/strawberry
6 Parasite pills
1 Intestinal movement pill
1 Tbsp bee pollen+agave
1 Tbsp honey

Today I also did:

Skin Brushing
(umm...that's it)

Previous night's sleep: 10PM to 5:30AM
TV rule: abided by
Tonight's sleep: 9PM to 8:30AM
(seeing I as write my blog posts the day AFTER ... it just makes sense that I report that night's sleep...easier to remember)

Did you notice that yummy juice? After that recent post I did where I joked about getting a butler, I thought it would be a great idea to treat myself to an amazing juice. Luckily organic red globe grapes were on sale this week... and organic strawberries were actually really affordable. Whoo hoo! Super tasty. I even had it in a martini glass! It was my way of celebrating the fact that I get 2 days off this week due to the long weekend. Sweet!

Oh... I also discovered peaches can't be juiced. Major bummer!

- Ben

Day 66 - Detoxing....really?

2008-03-19T19:42:00.001-04:00

Wonderful. I wake up and massive detox symptoms and, according to the weather network, it’s raining shards of glass outside. Brilliant! Out of nowhere I started getting a runny nose and generally felt like I had been hit by a bus. I guess this might be the parasite pills kicking in. I thought I was done detoxing!

I’m taking the parasite pills along with the intestinal movement formula to keep things moving down there. Wow. Moving they are… I haven’t had this many regular BMs since I started juice feasting. Hanlie also started her parasite cleanse this week and she said she keeps running to the washroom… I’m just happy to be having the normal amount of BMs per day again. After being vegan for 8 years… not going 2-3 times a day feels very alien to me… and that’s pretty much what was going on for much of the JF.

I was actually planning on having a big E (as Carrie likes to call it) when I got home (.........E as in Enema... not the drug! LOL) but I totally fell asleep at 7PM. Passed out cold on the couch. I woke up around 10PM and went straight to bed. I woke up again at 5:00am the next morning to make juices. I guess I was pooped from the previous night when I only got a few hours of sleep. I had a really great friend of mine visit from Ohio so I stayed up late last yesterday night.... She hadn’t seen me in about 2 years; she was blown away by how thin I was and joked about having a “Nicole Richie intervention”. LOL.

Today I had:

1.25L water+lemon+msm
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro+E3live+kelp+H salt
1.5L Pineapple/blackberry/orange
1.5L Watermelon
1.25L Kiwi/Apple
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
2Tbsp honey
3 Parasite pills
1 Intestinal movement pill

Today I also did:

Skin Brushing
Acupeds (targeting colon)
Zapper (all day)
Chiropractic adjustment
Previous night’s sleep: 0:30 to 05:30 (eep!) … hence why I passed out last night!
TV rule: abided by!

My chiropractor was still pretty amazed at the transformations that were happening due to the juice feast. She also was blown away by how much weight I had lost. Then she caught me off guard by asking me how I’m getting any protein… LOL. I guess that’s something I expect from the general populace but not from holistic practitionners. Oh well!

For those who asked about that gizmo that gave me all those neat stats from yesterday’s post… It’s http://www.sitemeter.com. And yes… it’s totally free and fun to have around.

Fun times!

- Ben

Day 65 - Blog fun!

2008-03-18T21:24:00.001-04:00

Didn't I promise you that you guys would be in for a treat? This is actually freakin' hilarious. I installed this program to count how many hits my blog has had. It's nuts that in just 3 days I've had over 200 hits. It has a really cool function that tells you how people got to your website. Most people are getting here via their own/other people's blogs (yay for mutual linking!) and via juicefeasting.com, globaljuicefeast.com and giveittomeraw.com.

Some people get here via Google by doing the weirdest searches. Here are a few interesting searches I've come across:

enema (over 10 times...seriously... apparently Google thinks I'm the most knowledgeable person when it comes to enemas....a lot of people think that actually.)
"that stick to your feet and draw out all the bad" (the bad what??? I'm dying to know!!)
"How to make a peppermint tea enema" (for minty fresh farts!)
"I need to pee" (who types that into Google?? Are you looking for an instruction manual on how to use your genitals for urination purposes?)

And my ultimate favorite...

"enema fun"

LOL! I kid you not! Hahahhahhahaha! Sorry to disappoint you but you won't find any 'enema fun' here. I also found out a lot of people are reading my post about Tropicana's "21 things" ad from day 21. I think it's hilarious that when you type "Tropicana 21 things" into Google I'm the first link that pops up and I basically bash the whole idea and bring up pasteurization and promote juicing fresh organic oranges on your own. Sorry Pepsico... but this ad campaign kinda backfired on you!

Oh – little update on my little ebay kerfuffle. It seems that Healthforce recently changed their formulas so 150 pills is all you need now – not 210. The good news is, I found this out AFTER I emailed that ebay guy. He offered me a 50% refund on the intestinal movement formula and a 25% refund on the parasite formula. Score! I figured he owes me for waiting 7 business days to ship my stuff! :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+lemon+msm (up to 2 ½ tablespoons of MSM now)
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro/dill/dandelion greens+E3live (only 2 sprigs of dill… but the whole thing just tasted like pickles! Mmm… pickles!)
1.5L Pineapple/blood orange
1.5L Watermelon juice
1L Coconut water+E3live
1.25L celery/red chard/cilantro/dill+kelp+H salt1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
2Tbsp honey
500ml Peppermint tea
Enzymes
1 Parasite formula pill

Today I also did:

Acupeds
Zapper (all day)
Skin brushing
(I’m totally not motivated to exercise lately…sigh)

Sleep: 9:15pm to 5am
TV rule: abided by.

Yep! It’s nuts… been getting about 7L of juice per day lately. I don’t know what’s wrong with me… I’m just hungry all the time lately. I finally get what Angela Stokes was talking about when she said she couldn’t imagine only getting in the required 4L of juice/day. I still can’t believe that was a challenge before.

The other funny thing on that topic is that I got my sister drinking 1L of water+msm+lemon per day in the morning. When I originally told her she replied in shock “you want me to drink 1 litre of water in the morning!??!?!” I was so perplexed as to why this was a big deal but I now remember how big a litre seemed in my pre-juice feasting days. A litre seems so small now! LOL.

That’s it for today! :) Stay juicy everyone!

- Ben

Day 64 - Grand theft...maple-water!

2008-03-17T22:58:00.001-04:00

Oh man. I think this might be a long post. A lot of stuff went on today. Let’s see. The day was actually pretty uneventful until I got home and found a card notifying me that my 3 healthforce nutritionals products had arrived (parasite formula, intestinal drawing and intestinal movement formulas). I was super happy because I’ve been waiting over 3 weeks to get these. I went to the post office to pick them up… came home and then decided to do something really bad…. Grand theft…. Grand theft maple water that is. I grabbed three mason jars and headed for the city park. The city is gathering maple water for a maple-syrup festival coming up this weekend. I figured I could score some maple water to substitute as juice. I scored 3Litres! Unfortunately the stuff doesn’t taste as good as I remember it. When I was a kid, my grandparents h ad a 318 acre farm complete with cows, chickens, dogs, cats, huge gardens, amazingly beautiful orchards…and yes… even a maple forest. Spring was always amazing; my grandfather would tap all the trees and brew HUGE batches of maple syrup. I remember having LOTS of maple taffy and other weird concoctions that my grandparents used to make with maple water. Maple water, tastes pretty much like water mixed with white sugar. I tried some last night and … yea… used to love sipping the stuff right out of the metal buckets as a kid but … not into it right now. What a waste! Too bad I can’t brew my own maple syrup with this… maybe I’ll give it a shot!

After getting home from my ‘grand theft maple-water, I decided to open my package. I totally got screwed! The ebayer I bought the stuff from sent me tiny bottles of 120 caps each (for the parasite and intestinal movement formulas). I thought maybe I was a dufus and bought the wrong products… but no… I checked… the guy sent me the wrong sizes. I emailed him and then checked his feedback history… I’m a bit nervous now. The worst part is, I have to delay my parasite cleanse even more because of this. Sigh. I’ve emailed him… lets hope we find a quick solution to this.

Oh! I had my green juice this morning with that ‘conventional celery’… It wasn’t all that bad. I guess I was half-expecting turning into a werewolf or something. It’s crazy really but conventional produce gives me the heebie jeebies. I’m looking forward to picking up more organic produce on Tuesday.

Today I had:

1.25L water+lemon+msm
1.25L celery/black kale/dandelion greens/cilantro
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/blackberry
1.5L watermelon juice
1.25L orange/carrot/dill (just a wee bit of dill)
1.5L pineapple blackberry
250ml maple water
2Tbsp bee pollen+agave
2 Tbsp honey
250ml water+chanca piedra

Today I also did:

Acupeds
Skin brushing
Zapper (all day)
2L Cat’s claw tea enema

Sleep: 11PM to 5AM (eep!)
TV: Cheated! 2 hours of TV….

Ummm… sorry it’s time for another ‘poop report’. I was about to do the cat’s claw enema yesterday morning and decided I would try and have a normal BM first. Well… I was REALLY surprised to have a normal person BM. I will admit that I stared at it completely bewildered for a bit. I haven’t eaten anything in 64 days! Where is this coming from?The enema got even MORE stuff out. I think I’m overdue for a colonic but my colonic hydrotherapist has one hell of a picky schedule (she only works from 10 to 4 or something to avoid traffic)… unless I take half a day off, I can’t really get to her.

Oh yea… I guess all this time I thought I wasn’t losing weight anymore… I was ‘full of shit’… in both senses of the phrase! I’ve finally hit the “lost over 30 pounds” mark. I need to change that graphic tonight! Yay! I’m finally keeping up with Hanlie! :) I figure I can lose another 10lbs and I’ll be happy. That would make me 17 on the BMI scale though which means I’d be underweight. I just want to sit down and not have a spare tire…Is that cool? LOL!

I have a really funny post in the works for tomorrow so stay tuned!Thanks everyone for all the great comments you left re yesterday’s post! I’m glad I was able to make you laugh! :)

- Ben

Day 63 - Ohh Jeeves!

2008-03-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

Well its day 63. This means there’s less than a month of juice feasting to go. It’s going to be so easy from here on end. I had an “oh my god I really want sauerkraut” moment today and it was a lot easier to acknowledge that craving and let it go because I know that 29 days from now, I’ll be eating food again.

I was so tired today again. I really needed to do some house cleaning but I just wanted to veg and take advantage of my TV day. The good news is, I TIVO’ed everything so I got to skip those brainwashing commercials. Yay! There was one interruption to ‘veg-out day’; I noticed I would be out of celery and lemons by tomorrow if I didn’t go to the health food store to pick up some more. When I got there, I was informed it was their busiest weekend on record and they were totally sold out of celery! I guess this is part of the ‘challenges’ on the hero’s journey? I was faced with two options; catch another bus to the market and hope I’d find some organic celery or go to the supermarket next door and get some conventional celery. I’m afraid, due to my zombie-nature on Saturday, I caved and went to get 2 conventional celeries. I’ll get some organic ones on Tuesday when that store gets a new order in. This will be the first time on the juice feast that I drink some conventional veggies. The only non-organic produce I use for juicing is pineapples, citrus and melons (when no organic version can be found). I’m sure 2 days won’t hurt though.

The sun is shinning a lot more lately and that’s so encouraging. Hopefully this means I’ll be biking to work again soon. The good thing about getting out of the house to get the produce was I got some sun and it made me happy! :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+orange+msm (yes… that says orange, I ran out of lemon… a boy has to improvise sometimes)
1.25L celery/kale/cilantro/dandelion greens+E3live+kelp+H salt
1.75L watermelon juice
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/blackberry
2Tbsp bee pollen+agave

Today I did :

Napping ? Sleep : 10AM to 1PM… God… that sounds aweful… I really need to quit my second job !
TV: Tons of American idol and other TIVO’ed stuff! :)
Not bad for a zombie day : I didn’t used to be able to get 4L a few weeks back. I’ve consistently gotten over 4L of juice lately! It’s nuts because now I can’t imagine not getting in that much juice. The truth is; I probably would have taken in more juice had it not been for the ‘effort’ it takes to make juice. Times like these, I wish I was rich and had a buttler!................................ *daydream*

Oh Jeeves! Can you make me some Pineapple/blood orange juice please? Oh… add some pomegranate juice to it this time… and I want it served in a martini glass! Mason jars are so bourgeois!

Did I mention Jeeves looks a lot like Axel Hermann in my day dream? Mmmmm…. I won’t get into what he’s wearing! :P

Kuß kuß!

- Ben

Day 62 - I want pickles!

2008-03-15T23:30:00.000-04:00

I know it's nuts... but I want pickles... especially sauerkraut. I've been looking at youtube videos on how to make your own.... but I notice Matt has this thing called a 'perfect pickler' on his website for sale. Has anyone used this? Is it worth it? :) I can't wait to have some sauerkraut!

I was TOTALLY knackered today. I barely made it out of my hotel overnight shift alive. I had a government exam (for a gov job...same level as what I was offered) today and I honestly just no-showed. There was no way. I was just too tired. It's what my body wanted. I spent most of the day in bed... the times I wasn't in bed, I was making juice. I can't believe I managed to get over 4L in today!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/dandelions greens+kelp+E3live+H salt
( I have to admit, I feel like a witch when I make my green juice "a few frog legs here, eye of newt here....") LOL
1.5L grape/strawberry/blood orange
1.25L green apple/alfalfa sprouts/kiwis
1.5L watermelon juice
1Tbsp bee pollen/agave
1Tbsp honey
1tsp coconut oil/honey (I had one teaspoon of this and my body wouldn't hear of it...did not want to deal with the oils today AT ALL)

Today I also did:

Ummm.... nothing? Lots of R&R... I listened to my body and I'm proud of myself! :) But I seriously need to do yoga...

Sleep: (don't forget, I worked overnight) 10am to 1:30PM and 6:00PM to 9:00PM
TV: I cheated today and watched some TIVO'd house and paranormal state.

I have a feeling tomorrow will also be an R&R "totally knackered" day. I can't wait to quit my weekend job and stop working 7 days/week.... one more month... one more month...

- Ben

Day 61 - Tag! I'm it!

2008-03-14T21:10:00.000-04:00

Carrie has recently tagged me and I took my sweet ass time to do this but it's time I reveal 5 previously unrevealed facts about myself. Fun fun. This is harder than I thought because, I talk about myself a lot and a lot of the kooky things I wanted to bring up, I've brought up before.

1) My favorite day of the year is the annual Zombie walk. Yep, not Christmas or Halloween or any of those other holidays. The Zombie walk is an annual event where hundreds of Ottawans dress up as zombies and gather in one spot (a local cemetery) and march all the way to Parliament. It has no point whatsoever but it's so much fun. We totally disrupt traffic and scare pedestrians and try to eat their brains! Here are some photos from last year's zombie walk:

Total blast! :)

2) I did an apprenticeship in Berlin one summer to learn about performance art. I stayed by the Ku'dam (Kurfurstendamm... but we cool people just called it the Ku'dam) which is Berlin's shopping district. Despite having been a flight attendant and having seen many cities, Berlin remains my favorite city of all times. There's a certain spot that I'm fond of... where I used to go every morning for a latte. I'd sit on the patio and overlook this half demolished cathedral (Kaiser Whilhem memorial) that was left standing to remind people of the horrors of war. It's a very intense and powerful scene. I'd give anything to be there right now... without the latte and Czech cigarettes, of course!

3) I have quite the collection of drunken pictures of myself. When I was a flight attendant, it was understood that drinking was part of the job. I mean, we had rules to abide by (as per transport canada, one cannot drink 8 hours prior to a flight, our airline increased this rule to 12 hours). We all took this rule very seriously but until that 12 hour mark hit, all hell could break loose. We had some fun times.... but yea... my poor liver. Here is a picture from Christmas 2006 which I spent in London with a really fun crew. And yes, these are the infamous superman underwear. I'm not sure how this happened..........

4) When I was 19 (and 20, I spent my birthday there) I ran off to Costa Rica. I had quite the abusive boyfriend at the time and I needed a break. It was one of the best things I ever did for myself. I had never been on a plane, never crossed a border. I learned to be very self-reliant and I gained a lot more confidence in myself. I spent some time in San Jose, but most of my time in Costa Rica was spent in a very very remote village by the Pacific ocean. I had my own little house with my own boogie board. The 5km of beach was ALWAYS deserted. I lived in the middle of a jungle with monkeys, crocodiles, pelicans, lizards.... it was awesome. I felt like tarzan on most days. The jungle was so lush, sometimes I'd half expect a T-rex to come running out of the foliage! Costa Rica has a very special place in my heart, and I'll admit, when I start feeling overwhelmed.... I often think of hopping on the first available flight there. This thought also seems to pop up when we have crazy snowstorms! hehee. Here are some pictures from my Costa Rican experience:

Oh yea... if you ever climb a 10,000' high volcano.... make sure to bring a sweater... even if you are in a tropical climate, it gets cold at that altitude!

5) Now... this may sound really weird. I want to make it clear that I'm not talking about an aversion or a snobbish disdain here... but a full blown phobia. I have a phobia of.... plastic dishes. Even as I write this I get a bit worked up. I know it sounds super silly, but they freak me out. Specifically the plastic dishes that look like they're made of glass. I've been known to pick up a nice salad bowl thinking it was made of glass only to find out (from its weight) that it's made of plastic.... I basically FREAK OUT and run out of the store. I CAN'T STAND THOSE THINGS. They freak me out so much!!!

Alright. That's my five things. I have to find people to tag now. I'm tagging Kristi, Jessica and Mish.

Now, back to juice feasting! :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/cilantro+E3live+kelp+H salt
1.25L grape/blood orange/strawberry (yum!)
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/blueberry
1.5L watermelon juice
1.25L spinach/green apple+H salt+E3live
1tbsp bee pollen+agave
1tbsp coconut oil+honey
2tbsp honey
Forgot about the hemp oil (Freud would say I unconsciously chose to 'forget')

Today I did:

Skin brushing
2L Cat's claw enema

Sleep: 10PM to 5:30am
TV: Still good on the Sunday only TV rule

Uhhh.... I did the enema RIGHT before leaving to go work at the hotel last night and that was a BAD idea. I almost missed the bus cause I kept running back to the loo to evacuate more water. Eeep! When I got onto the bus I kept getting cramping and I was thinking to myself "shit this was a bad idea". No accidents though! LOL. Won't be doing that again!

.... I need to pee... so I'll end this post now! :)

- Ben

Day 60 - A time to reflect....

2008-03-13T22:05:00.005-04:00

Photo by Duane Michals

It's day 60 and I think this is a milestone in juice feasting terms. I'm 2/3rds of the way there and those prunes are so close, I can taste them... well I could... if I ever had eaten prunes in my life before this! hahaha. I have no idea what awaits; never had a prune in my life.

This post is huge; here's what's on the agenda for today:

Today's events
Plans for the remaining 32 days
In retrospect
Update on the psoriasis (notice I say "the" instead of "my")
Another juice feaster's award

Today - Day 60

Today was pretty uneventful other than doing mega groceries. I decided not to buy any young coconuts this week and buy 7 watermelons instead. My usual weekday coconut water will be swapped for watermelon juice. I was pretty tired after groceries so I'm afraid this accounts for the lateness of this post along with the uninspiring juices I had today. I bought some great ingredients to make myself a "congratulations juice" for tomorrow.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/red chard/cilantro+E3live+kelp+Himalayan salt
1.25L Pineapple/blood orange
1.25L Watermelon
1L Coconut water
1L Grannysmith apple/Spinach/Alfalfa sprouts+E3live+Spirulina+Himalayan salt
1Tbsp bee pollen+Agave
1Tbsp coconut oil+honey
1Tbsp hempseed oil+lemon (shot style!)
2Tbsp honey
(totally forgot about the chanca piedra!)

Today I also did:

10 minutes on the rebounder
Skin brushing

Sleep: 10PM to 5:30am (oops!)
TV: Still no TV since Sunday... I'm doing great with this! Thank Buddha for TIVO!

Changes from this point forward

This is just one of the changes I want to do for the rest of juice feasting. Here is a list of ideas I'm entertaining:

More watermelon juice, less coconut water
Increased intake of MSM (right now my daily intake is 20ml of MSM per 1.25L of water. I want to double this amount to 40ml of MSM for the same quantity of water
Visit an infrared sauna 2 or 3 times during the next 32 days
Do more frequent enemas
Apply more topical treatments to speed up the healing of the remaining psoriasis
Continue using acupeds for the remaining 32 days
Continue taking my oils (I've been doing so good with this!!!)

You're probably wondering how come I haven't mentioned taking the parasite pills yet eh? Well it seems they may be stuck at the border. I ordered them 3 weeks ago to make sure this wouldn't happen. There's no tracking number on the package so it's possible the package is also lost.... which would suck big time! I also had some intestinal drawing and intestinal movement formula in there. I should get it next week.... I hope! :)

In retrospect

It's day 60 and this is so monumental for me. There were days I wasn't entirely sure that I would actually make it this far. Juice feasting can seem, at times, like mount everest. A very tall mountain that is impossible to conquer. That feeling can be overwhelming. All I can say is think of what David says all the time: everyone juice feasts for one day: today. Just focus on today, forget about how many days you have left. This wisdom has kept me sane on many occasions.

I know there's a lot of juice feasters out there right now who are about to hit day 15! That's a milestone too! Feel happy and celebrate; make yourself a really amazing juice. Forget about the cost (I've made a 1L of juice once that cost 23$!)... just do something nice for yourself to celebrate this milestone and keep doing that for each milestone you hit... or on days when you feel really down and juice feasting feels like a challenge... I promise you, being creative in the kitchen with your juice and incorporating things like pomegranates, strawberries, blackberries, grapes, etc will make you feel so good... and the juice will taste amazing too! :)

I'm going to save a lot of this retrospect for day 92 but I just want to pat myself on the back here because for the past few days I have ALWAYS been taking my oils. I owe a lot of this to Mish because she reminded me how hemp oil (with its special blend of omega3/6) is supposed to be really good for psoriasis. I just was avoiding it because I couldn't stand the stuff... and then felt guilty about not taking it. Well I'm taking it now, everyday... along with coconut oil and I'm also not going to feel guilty if I forget to on a day or two. No big deal. But yea... go me! :)

Update on the P!

For those who are wondering on the status of the psoriasis:

Fully healed:
Scalp (was 100%), forehead (was 50%), neck/chin area (was 10-20%)

Almost done healing:
Legs (odd spots left ... less than 5% - was 50%), thighs (odd spots left, less than 5% - was 50%)

Healing differently:
Chest (no more flaking, reduced thickness, light pink where lesions were and healing slowly... lots of new skin.... about 50% coverage - down from 75%), Back (healing in the same way... less than 5% - down from 20%), arms and forearms (lots of new skin, healing in the same way as the chest area... 25% coverage, down from 75%).

I'm not sure if I'll be fully healed by day 92 but I think the chances are really great that I just might be. If not, I know a well-balanced raw food diet will continue the healing that juice feasting has spearheaded. For anyone suffering from psoriasis, all I can say is juice feasting will jumpstart the healing process in a way you can't imagine. It's important to remember that this condition arises out of a weak and toxic colon. Juice feasting merely cleans out the colon, detoxes the body and rebuilds the colon wall (cures leaky-gut syndrome). You can't just go back to eating french fries after this (and you won't want to). You want to ensure that this condition doesn't reappear by being cognizant of what goes into your colon. I know I'll be taking slippery elm and cat's claw tea everyday after juice feasting to ensure my colon walls stay strong.

I'm saving my before/after pictures for day 92, I'm afraid! :)

Juice Feaster award

She doesn't know this yet but I'm awarding a juice feaster
award to Jessica of RAWtacular. Jessica is RAWtacular indeed! She's done two juice feasts so far and has inspired other people around her to give it a shot too. Also, she's juice feasted through an insane snowstorm on her first juice feast. When the power went out, she brought her supplies and blender to a friend's place and made juice there. I personally, have a lot of respect for people who juice feast while cooking for their families and having to face food in their own homes. I'm sooo lucky to be single (for once) and live alone because the temptation isn't there. When I started juice feasting, I gave all my non-juice foods (almonds, other nuts, tofu, etc) to my family so they could get it out of my sight. Hahaha. Way to go Jessica! I'm sure proud of you!!! :) Please visit her blog and congratulate her on another great juice feast and for staying juicy (with green smoothies) post-feast! :)

Well that's it kiddoes.... I have to get to bed!

- Ben

Day 59 - Happy Happy, Joy Joy

2008-03-12T21:22:00.004-04:00

Thanks to everyone who replied to yesterday's request (day 58). It was neat to hear from all the readers out there that I didn’t even know were there. Thanks again.

Today was great. Oh my god, the sun is finally coming out more and more these past few days and this has definitely elevated my mood. Also, doing some rebounding has really helped that too. Rebounding makes me really happy. I put some corny music on and bounce/dance along. It’s totally goofy but it lifts my spirits and I think that’s an important component of healing.

I started looking more into studying at Hippocrates yesterday and Living light. I don’t think this can be done within the next year but you know what, after listening to yesterday’s video on globaljuicefeast.com about goals… I think I’ll just write it down as a goal and see what happens in terms of the universe delivering on that goal.

Tomorrow is day 60 and I’m planning a really interesting post; one that reflects back on the past 2 months of juice feasting and also looks ahead, at some changes I want to make to the next 32 days. Stay tuned for that okay? :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/green chard/cilantro+E3live+kelp+Himalayan sea salt

250ml water+chanca piedra
1.5L Pineapple/blood orange/blackberry (yuuum!)
250ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L Cantaloupe/orange (I think that cantaloupe was a bit off…meurgh)
1L Coconut water
1L Apple/spinach/alfalfa sprouts
2Tbsp honey
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave nectar
1Tbsp hemp seed oil+lemon (shot glass style)
1Tbsp coconut oil+honey

Today I did:

Skin brushing
2L Cat’s claw tea enema
20 min reboundingAcupeds (still targeting kidneys)
Zapper (all day)

Last night’s sleep: 10PM to 5:30PM (eep! Bit later than I wanted!)

That’s it for today… keeping this short!

Mit Liebe,

- Ben

Day 58 – Who are you?

2008-03-11T22:37:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was SO MUCH FUN. I mean, I went to work and that was uneventful… but after work I went to the health food store. I did that thing again where I looked at ALL the foods with a lot of fascination. I mostly craved raw-nola, sauerkraut, wasabi peas (I guess those aren’t raw eh?) and cashews. But yea, I think I’m going to buy that pickling jar from Matt’s site because I’d really like to make my own sauerkraut but the traditional method kind of scares me. I ran into my vegan friend Jill there! She’s on her way to Japan soon! Yay Jill! We talked about juice feasting and she told me how proud she was of me! So sweet! Unbeknownst to be, Jill has been following my blog! HI JILL !! !:)

This brings me to today’s title; I’ve been getting a lot of comments on giveittomeraw and globaljuicefeast from people who have been following my blog for some time but don’t comment. That’s perfectly fine but I’m a very inquisitive person so I’d like to take this opportunity to ask those who read this blog but don’t comment to just say a quick hello and tell me where they’re from and anything else they’d like to say or ask. I’m curious to see who’s out there reading my (sometimes) ineloquent ramblings.

What did I end up buying at the health food store, you ask? PRUNES! No no! Just kisdding! I’m not buying prunes until day 92! I don’t want to be tempted by them. I bought some really awesome soap by Giovanni (hazelnut/vanilla), some hair conditioner (also Giovanni), some honey, raw cold-pressed coconut oil, cilantro, spinach,, cat’s claw tea, MSM, dishwashing liquid (Ecover) and… I think that’s it. Oh! Alfalfa seeds for sprouting!

Afterwards I went to meet up with Vanessa, a University student that is doing her Master’s thesis on the topic of vegetarianism and social activism. It was really neat to do this. It was an hour interview (with lots of intermittent chatting) about my reasons and experiences as a vegan. It was amazing to do this at this point in my juice feast. I really feel like juice feasting is a life-changing event but it’s also a cusp; that is to say, the transition from vegan to raw-vegan for me. I went vegan 8 years ago when there weren’t many cookbooks and ready-made foods for vegans. Now it’s SO EASY to be vegan. I’m planning on transitioning to raw and that’s a bit daunting because I know I have to start all over again. I have to relearn how to be a superstar in the kitchen. I have to deal with the fact that raw products aren’t so prevalent. The raw movement right now is where the vegan movement was 8 years ago when I first went vegan. I’m back to ground zero and it’s going to be interesting. Self reliance and innovation are going to be keys to this being a success though. Lots of cookbooks, lots of help from raw friends online and lots of experimenting in the kitchen. I can deal with that! :) Anyway… it was nice to do this ‘retrospective’ of my experiences as a vegan at this pivotal moment in my vegan journey.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
500 ml water+chanca piedra
1.25 celery/kale/parsley+kelp+Himalayan salt+E3live+Spirulina
500 ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L Pineapple/Blood orange/Blackberry (yum!)
1.25L Grapefruit/Orange/Carrot/Ginger/Cantaloupe (kinda gross, to be honest!)
1L Coconut water
500ml Mint tea
1Tbsp coconut oil
1Tbsp Hemp oil+lemon juice (shot glass style)
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave nectar
2Tbsp honey
Enzymes

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
20 minutes on the rebounder
Acupeds
Parasite zapper (all day)

Previous night’s sleep: 9:15PM to 5:30AM. Mmmm!
TV rule: Still have not turned on the TV since Sunday!

That’s all for me right now… remember… click that comment button and say hello! Especially if you’ve never commented before and follow my blog!

- Ben

PS: Check out David’s video on the Hero’s journey today. It makes a lot more sense to me now, at day 58 than it did when I first read about it, in my first days of juice feasting. Poweful stuff. I’m trying to figure out a way right now that would allow me to go down to the Hippocrates Institute to be trained as a Health Educator within the next 2 years. I’m going to have to do some SERIOUS budgeting. I also am thinking of going to the Living Light Raw culinary arts school. We’ll see what happens. :)

Day 57 - Self love

2008-03-10T23:06:00.001-04:00

I think the most amazing thing about juice feasting is the sense of inner peace I am feeling lately. Who knew drinking juices could do that to you. I’m watching less TV, not smoking anymore, I *want* to exercise and do yoga… and I’ve turned into my body in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. I’m communicating with my body like it is a very assertive child that I am taking care of…. I’m receptive to its needs.

I don’t think this inner journey is over by any means. One of the things I want to work on is letting go of feelings of guilt. Guilt is not only unhealthy; it also creates an acidic environment in the body. I need to stop feeling guilty for things. The first thing I need to stop feeling guilty for is forgetting to take supplements and exercising. It’s no big deal. No need for guilt; it won’t change the past. Instead, I just need to focus on doing better tomorrow. That’s it.

I don’t know if juice feasting and this community of juice feasters (that I’ve become so close to) has become a substitute for this but… I no longer feel the overwhelming urge to have a boyfriend. This is MAJOR. I’ve been a little obsessed with this (in a very Ally McBeal-kinda way) for some time. I’m actually feeling really content with being single right now; being with myself and taking care of myself isn’t so bad. I am really starting to love myself, truly and deeply and I think this is the major key to this change; I don’t feel like I need someone else’s love to make me feel worthy of being loved. My own self-love is enough.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/green chard/parsley+kelp+Himalayan salt+E3live
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/blackberry (yum!)
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.5L green apple/kiwi
750ml apple/spinach/ginger+E3live+Spirulina+Himalayan salt
1Tbsp bee pollen/honey
2Tbsp honey/royal jelly
1tbsp hemp oil+2 Tbsp lemon juice (shot glass style, went down easier)
Enzymes

Today I also did

Acupeds (targeted kidneys)
Zapper (all day)
10 min rebounder
1 hour nap
Slept from 8PM to 5:30PM
Took the day off (felt really REALLY tired and dizzy this morning… said “fuck it!”) Oops… so much for not swearing! :PHousecleaning!

I’m a bit worried that according to David’s instructions (based on some videos and comments of his I read), I should have ended my juice feast about 2 or 3 weeks ago… (based on my current weight and hunger) but then again, I have a major dis-ease that I’m fighting so I think going forward with the full 92 days isn’t a bad idea. My weight has honestly stabilized… I haven’t lost any weight in more than a week. I’m at a stable 142lbs and it won’t budge. I am craving raw foods like crazy though… but I don’t think it’s a real hunger… I think it’s a curiosity… I can’t wait to get back in the kitchen and be creative with foods.

Anyway that’s it for now :)

- Ben

Day 56 - Tasteless pineapples and snowstorms!

2008-03-09T22:30:00.002-04:00

So after my shift at the hotel today, I started making my way home. Only, we got 51cm of snow (almost 21 inches) over the weekend! Really crazy snowstorm! The sidewalks were completely snowed in; no choice but to walk through main roads. Luckily most people avoided venturing out of their homes. The buses were totally fucked and cabs were nowhere to be found. It took me over an hour to get home. Unreal!

Here are some pictures of what my walk home looked like:

David and Katrina... can I come juice feast with you guys in Patagonia? I'm getting sick of this winter! :P *giggles*

When I finally did get home, I was staaarving. No time for water and MSM this morning, I'm afraid. I wanted green juice ASAP! So that's what did. I felt really tired all day today which was basically due to working the overnight shift. I really need to quit the hotel...real soon or I'm going to have a burnout. I can feel it. :( After juice feasting I should be able to afford quitting the hotel....

My next juice of the day was one of my all time favorites; pineapple and blackberry. Only this week, I wasn't able to find some big organic pineapples so I settled for some non-organic ones. Wow. People who think organic is a big joke have no idea of how much more flavorful organic produce is. This conventional pineapple I had tasted soooo watered down. It was a total bummer! Sigh. I hope the other 3 pineapples I bought have more flavour than this one.

Today I had:

1.25 celery/collard greens/parsley
250ml water+chanca piedra
1.5 pineapple/blackberry
1.25 grapefruit/blood orange/carrot
250ml water+chanca piedra
1tbsp bee pollen+agave
2tbsp honey+royal jelly

(another buzzkill was the 1lb of bee pollen I bought at the health food store... tastes like CRAP compared to the one I had bought from the local guy in the market. Damn.... there's 14$ down the drain.... I LOVE my local guy bee pollen... I'll have to go buy more from him soon...!)

Today I also did:

Napping? No exercise today guys... I was zombified! But I did fill my head with lots of inspirational raw-vegan podcasts from Revvell (http://www.revvellations.com/)

I'll start logging sleep and everything tomorrow. All I did today was nap since I worked overnight... I think I got in 6 hours of sleep throughout the day.

That's it for me today..... I know, boring post today eh? Well the snow thing was cool! :) I sure picked THE winter to go raw, eh?

- Ben

Day 55 - Experimentation

2008-03-08T23:40:00.000-05:00

"Much of Locke's work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism. This opposition is both on the level of the individual person and on the level of institutions such as government and church. For the individual, Locke wants each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the opinion of authorities or be subject to superstition. He wants us to proportion assent to propositions to the evidence for them. On the level of institutions it becomes important to distinguish the legitimate from the illegitimate functions of institutions and to make the corresponding distinction for the uses of force by these institutions. The positive side of Locke's anti-authoritarianism is that he believes that using reason to try to grasp the truth, and determining the legitimate functions of institutions will optimize human flourishing for the individual and society both in respect to its material and spiritual welfare. This in turn, amounts to following natural law and the fulfillment of the divine purpose for humanity."

- Uzgalis, William, "John Locke," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Online Edition)

Day 60 is approaching and I'll almost be 2/3rds of the way done with juice feasting. Day 60 is monumental for me. I held off buying the parasite cleanse stuff until just recently because deep down I wasn't really sure if I'd make it there. If I can make it to day 60, there's no doubt I'll be going all the way to do 92. That is to say, unless health issues arose, in which case I would take the appropriate action based on my body's needs.

Philip posted a really inspiring video today and it really got me thinking about a lot of different things. It really got me thinking about empiricism and how far our society has moved away from the empirical experience. We read and read about nutrition and health and ingest all this authoritative information from 'those who know' and have completely forgotten about the most basic element of human experience; the empirical experience.

Juice feasting works because my SENSES tell me it does. I don't need scientific data to back this up. I don't need proof of the existence of toxins. Doctors claim psoriasis to be a "chronic disease" or even going further and calling it an autoimmune disease. They claim there is no cure, only treatments. They claim there is no link between diet and the disease. They also claim much of the concept of "detoxing" is largely unfounded. Well... my personal empirical evidence would sure like to disprove that. I hope I'll see the definition of psoriasis changed to "a temporary but reversible state of high-toxicity" in my lifetime.

Philip's video also prompted me to rethink a lot of what I've been doing so far while juice feasting. This is actually a perfect time for me to look back on my experience juice feasting thus far and ensure that the remaining days are even better. I need to learn from my mistakes. The first 2 weeks of juice feasting was spent trying to get 4 litres in everyday and struggling with juices that gave me incredible stabbing pains in my stomach. I overcame those challenges only to start dealing with a lot of bizarre aches and pains that showed up. Now... things are generally pretty good. It's time to step up my game. Here are my mid-feast resolutions from this point foward:

Go to bed earlier: seriously kiddos... I'm going to bed at 7 or 8PM from now on! I *NEED* more sleep. I can feel it. To hold me accountable for this, from this point forward, I will be logging the amount of sleep I get.
Get up earlier (3:30AM/4AM): mornings are a pain in the ass lately. Juicing takes a lot of time... and I constantly feel rushed as a result. If I get up earlier, maybe I'll be able to find time for some morning yoga or rebounding or enemas.
Drink down the hemp oil! This is my moment of shame... let me come clean here... I HATE hemp oil. I find it tastes really nasty and gives me really gross burps afterwards. I think much of my aversion to hemp oil is as a result of having had juices (in the early days) that gave me stabbing stomach pains that just HAPPENED to have hemp oil. Urgh. If anyone has tricks on how I can get that stuff down more easily, let me know. I don't want to mix it into my juices... I find it makes it too thick. My shot-glass method +chaser is pretty much the most effective thing for me right now.
Yoga... no more excuses! I need more yoga!
TV: Allowed on Sundays with no restrictions... during the week + Saturdays... max of 3 hours. I'll be logging this too. I can't be wasting my time with TV when I can barely keep my apartment clean and do laundry. This is ridiculous.
Swear less... adopt a more positive attitude at work. I like swearing... but I realize that this just adds more negativity to my being.
Spend money frugally. Start saving 100$ for raw cookbooks, 200$ for a 9 tray dehydrator and 200$ for "raw foods starter groceries".
Get started on the Master To-Do list. I have a binder with blank pages where I want to itemize everything I'd like to do, want to do and need to do. I just have to get started on this. Everything from recipe ideas to art ideas to cleaning stuff to interior design ideas.....

I think those are some good goals. Now that they're here for the world to see, I guess that makes me more accountable for them. Fun fun! These don't take effect until Monday okay? :) Weekends are hard to implement this stuff cause I'm usually so tired from working overnights.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/parsley/alfalfa sprouts+kelp+E3live+Himalayan salt
1.5L cantaloupe
500ml coconut water
1.5L green apple/kiwi/spinach (yum!)
500ml water+chanca piedra
1tbsp bee pollen+agave
1 tbsp honey/royal jelly mix
1tbsp hemp oil!!
Enzymes

Today I also did:

Sleep... but not enough of it still.
Parasite zapper (all day, except during sleep)

I've been enjoying a lot of really good podcasts on raw foods and raw lifestyle. I'm also still reading a lot of raw recipes. While this may seem like torture, I now realize I'm PREPARING myself for the next step. I'm absorbing every recipe into my head and building this fountain of knowledge of how raw food preparation works so that, when the time comes, I'll have all the tools. I can't wait to start doing a raw recipe blog though.... ! :)

Oh! I also went for an ionic foot bath today. For those of you who are not familiar with ionic foot baths, I'd recommend you read up on it on this website. The idea is that you put your feet in a pure water foot bath. Himalayan salt is added to the bath and this machine basically ionizes the water. Through reverse osmosis, toxins are taken out of the body. The water can turn dark brown or black...sometimes foam or cottage-cheese-like substances form on the surface of the water... seriously, just do a google image search for "ionic foot bath" and look at the stuff that comes up. I was REALLY expecting my foot bath to turn brown (indicative of liver toxicity and smoking habit). Nope! It stayed a really light yellow. I'm actually pretty clean it seems. I'm sure that wouldn't have been the case without all the changes I've made and the 55 days of juice feasting I've done. The light yellow indicates toxins in the kidneys. I'll have to remember to keep taking my chanca piedra. I had a tiny bit of white foam at the top... which indicates that toxins were released from my lymphatic system.

I bought a box of 40 acupeds and will keep doing these for the next little while. Because of the low amount of toxins drawn out, I think I'll wait a month or two before doing the foot bath again. The good news is that ionic foot baths are also very alkalizing and I should see a rapid shift in healing as a result. :) Yay!

That's it for me kiddos.... I'm so tired... can't wait to go home and SLEEP!

- Ben

Day 54 - Good things!

2008-03-07T23:51:00.001-05:00

Yep! As Martha would say, you can't have too much of a good thing. Hey...it looks like Martha likes to juice feast too... No Martha! Tequila isn't allowed on the juice feast!

Anyhow, today was just one of those days where everything went right (except the massive snowstorm that is approaching, yet again!). The buses were on time this morning. I managed to get to work on time for the first time this week!

I got to work and my boss called me from this training thing she's on to tell me she talked to the director and they're going to bring me in as a term. I'm through an agency right now which means the agency takes a huge cut of my paycheck each week... My contract was also supposed to end at the end of March. This way, I'll be officially employed by the government with benefits, paid vacation and sick days and all that stuff! Term basically means, while I'm not permanent, I have a job for minimum of a year (maybe 2)... these things always get renewed and after 3 years they HAVE to make you permanent. So this is good news. The only bad news is in order to do this, they have to demote me from Marketing Officer to Admin support. Bleeuurrgh! It's still the same amount of money though... a wee bit more, maybe! I won't be quitting the hotel just yet, but this is very good news!

I called my mom to tell her the good news and we ended up having a really great conversation about eating habits. My mom has been trying to improve her lifestyle and I told her to cut down on her 'diet coke' (read, crack!). I explained to her in detail last week how the high acid content is ruining her bones. She's down to 1 can/day which is great considering she used to drink 3 to 6 a day! She's also eliminated cheese, pastries, chips and ice cream from her diet. She's cut down dramatically on coffee and is drinking TONS of water. I made a deal with her that once I'm done juice feasting I'm going to teach her how to make salads. My mom has NEVER had spinach in her life... I need to introduce her to kale, spinach, legumes... I shit you not! My mom doesn't know how to cook. If it doesn't come in a box or in a can, she doesn't know what to do with it. It's time for some 'healthy cooking classes with Ben'.

My sister also sent me a text message while at work saying that her elbow really hurts and that she's going to go vegan and on a detox diet that she read about. I need to get more info out of her but WOW! I never thought I would see the day my sister would decide to also go vegan! I immediately told her to start with the 1L of water+lemon+msm to help her elbow (she thinks she has tennis elbow). I'm picking her up some MSM tomorrow and some acupeds too. I'm also giving her my old breville juicer.

Also on the subject of converting people to the green goodness, a coworker of mine came by to see me yesterday asking me for weightloss advice. He's been drinking greens+ for a while now and I told him he needs FRESH veggies! So I gave him links to green smoothie recipes including Sarma's cilantro shake (which I suggested he use but swap cilantro for kale seeing as it's so nutrient dense). This morning he came in with EXACTLY that in a bottle! I was so proud! He even added some greens+ to it! I told him the next step is to swap that greens+ for some E3live! :)

We got to go home early today!!! Tons of good things, I'm telling you! The buses were so in sync I got home in record time! While walking from one bus stop to another, this random woman who was crossing the street with me smiled at me and told me how much she loved my hair style! It was SO nice to receive a comment like that from a pure stranger! WOW!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/black kale/alfalfa sprouts+E3live+kelp+Himalayan salt
1.25L green apple/kiwi
500 ml ginger tea
1.25L grapefruit/blood orange/carrot
750ml coconut water+E3live
1.25L apple/spinach+Himalayan salt
1tbsp bee pollen+agave
1tbsp honey/royal jelly mix
That's 5.75 lites of juice baby!

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Parasite Zapper (all day!)
No time for exercise... just a nap and then straight to my second job!

Now... if I manage to get home tomorrow morning after the snowstorm, you can bet I'm spending all day in bed under my electric blanket. :) I'm pooped!

Hugs to everyone! :)

- Ben

Day 53 - Empty fridge + Empty stomach = Empty wallet!

2008-03-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

Bear with me today. It’s going to be one hell of a long entry.

The things I want to cover today are as follows:

Mega shopping adventures

Falling in love again with juice feasting

Acupeds and Parasite zapper updates

Weird dreams (about my colon?)

Mega grocery shopping

Have you ever heard that saying “don’t do groceries whilst hungry”? Yep! Ridiculously bad idea! I went shopping yesterday for groceries and I should have had some juice before going but seeing as I have to run to the washroom every hour when drinking juice, I try to avoid drinking juice prior to going grocery shopping. The first stop was Loblaws where I managed to spend a whopping 100$! I bought a lot of stuff though. I mean, I woke up this morning to find out I had only enough ingredients to make juice for today. I actually had to make two green juices to bring to work today because… I ran out of fruit!

Needless to say, my body was on a rampage. I also had to buy more agave nectar and I found some honey with royal jelly mixed in. It’s non-pasteurized and I hope it’s raw! It’s very tasty and when I have a teaspoon of it, I’m not craving more of it. It’s very satisfying! I think this will help my recent honey binges! The next stop was the health food store where I bought a whopping 120$ worth of stuff! What the hell? This week has been a really expensive week for juice feasting! 240$ in total (add the coconuts from Chinatown that my dad was kind enough to buy for me).

I was a bit upset about this until I started thinking about how I used to spend my money before juice feasting. I always think “before juice feasting, I used to spend 100-120$ a week on groceries”. Hmmm… Let’s look at my pre-juice feasting lifestyle, shall we?

Groceries 120$
Cigarettes 20$
Coffee 20$ (or more)
Snacking at work 25$
Restaurants and ‘fast food’ 50$ (average per week, over a month)
Health Food store purchases 20$

That’s a total of $225 a week on food/vices. In actual fact, juice feasting is costing me LESS than my pre-juice feasting lifestyle. This really explains why I haven’t gone into debt or anything while juice feasting. It just SEEMS like I’m spending more money because I’m spending it all in one place. Lets not forget, this week’s splurge of 240$ on juice feasting stuff is an exception; last week I only spent 160$ which is a pretty consistent average. Anyway that’s all I wanted to bring up! While juice feasting seems expensive, you save money in a lot of other places.

Falling in love with juice feasting again

I have to admit, breaking the feast earlier has been on my mind lately. As Carrie mentioned, a lot of the fellow feasters I started juicing with in the earlier days have since transitioned back to solid foods. I’m determined to juice feast for 92 days unless my body tells me otherwise. But yesterday, I was passing buy the prunes and I stared at them for a while wondering if this was the time. Nope! It’s not. But I decided I was falling into a slump with juice feasting. I needed to fall in love again. I realized one of the things I miss most about solid food is being creative in the kitchen. I LOVE to cook and invent recipes. Why couldn’t I invent a new juice? Well I did just that… but I warn you… this juice cost me 23$ to make. It yielded 1.5L of juice.

Love juice

2 Pomegranates (5$)
6 Fresh black mission figs (6$)
2 Blood oranges (1$)
1 bunch of organic red globe grapes (roughly 3 to 4 cups worth – 6$)
8ox Organic Strawberries (5$)

First I put the pomegranate seed thingies through the Samson juicer to extract the juice. That juice went into the Vitamix along with all the other ingredients. I pulverized it and strained it through a nut milk bag. If I had to do it again, I would omit the figs, or put less. It made for a very THICK juice. Probably too thick for juice feasting… but I didn’t care. It was SOOOO tasty! Mmmmmm! Just what I needed… a little honeymoon from the green juices! :) Which brings me to….

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/green chard/cilantro+E3Live+kelp+Himalayan salt+spirulina1.25L grapefruit/apple/carrot
1L celery/spinach/collard greens+spirulina
1.5L Love juice1Tbps bee pollen+agave1Tbsp honey+royal jelly mix
Probiotics
Enzymes

Today I also did:

Skin brushingParasite Zapper (all day)
Manual labor (we moved boxes around for 2 hours straight at work yesterday!)
(Missed yoga! Darn!)

Zapper & Acupeds update

The zapper is really weird. Yesterday I’d wear it at work and everything would be fine… then it would start to burn like a bitch and I’d move it around…. I was moving it around constantly. Interestingly enough, if I put it near my ascending colon (where worms apparently live) I would need to move it after 5 minutes. I can normally keep it near the descending colon for 30 minutes or more. Weird eh?

Ad for the acupeds, I woke up yesterday morning to find out that they were all gross and gunky again… but only in certain spots!! I guess this means maybe I’m not so toxic after all! :)

Weird dream

I had the strangest and most vivid dream last night. To be honest, I’ve been having a lot of weird vivid dreams during juice feasting but this one takes the cake. I dreamt that the airline I used to work for was short flight attendants and they had called me in to do one flight as a favor for them. I showed up with my suitcase only to find out it was practically empty and I didn’t have a uniform (duh… I haven’t been a flight attendant in over a year now). I was a bit worried about going to the UK with only one shirt and one pair of pants. Then we walked over to the bridge to the plane; two bridges were out; one to the forward door and one to the aft (rear door). That basically forms a U shape right? In the dream, I actually interpreted that image as being my colon. When I got into the plane, I realized the whole thing was empty. I guess my body is telling me that I’m not carrying as much junk anymore. My ‘suitcase’ is empty and so it my colon. I guess I don’t have to focus so much on detoxing anymore and I need to focus more on healing. Consequently, I don’t think I’ll be doing regular ionic foot baths after this Saturday’s appointment… I will nonetheless continue to do colonics… but I guess I’ll just focus more on healing activities.

Anyway… I think my little slump might be over. I know I’ll feel a lot better once I hit day 60. I think the 92 day goal will feel a lot more achievable at that point.

That’s all for now… sorry for ranting on so much.

- Ben

Day 52 - Food porn?

2008-03-05T23:17:00.003-05:00

No! Not that kinda porn! Raw food porn... as in pictures of raw food that make you drool and wish it was April 14th already so you could start soaking those prunes and dreaming of binging on an entire bucket of raw pesto! :P Just kidding just kidding! :)

Regarding yesterday's slump, I'm happy to report that I'm feeling much better today. I'm just really hungry. Between the kale salads on Carrie's blog and all the raw food porn I've been looking at today (on Gliving and other random sites)... my tummy is rumbling. I honestly cannot wait to start on my new journey of raw foods....especially with all the new friends I've been making on welikeitraw.com. I'm not concerned that I might fall 'off the juicy wagon'... it's more like a kid fascinated with the toys under the Christmas tree....waiting in anticipation for the big day. Feast breaking is 40 days away.... Although that looks like a big number to me right now, I know the end of the month will be here soon and I'll be freaking out about only having 14 days left.

Enough about that. I'm feeling MUCH better today. There was a freak snowstorm out today... we got 1 foot of snow overnight/throughout the day... my bus was 43 minutes late! We've had a terrible winter here. Here's an excerpt from today's Ottawa Citizen (local newspaper):

Snowfall to date (Feb 28) 313.1 cm
Total volume 234.83 m3
Total weight 37,572 kg
WRE 16.34

Mr. Lange says: "Less the additional centimetres we've had the last few days, I've shovelled approximately 41 tons of snow off my driveway - approximately the weight of a humpback whale.

And this from CFRA News Talk Radio:

The winter of 2007-2008 is now the second snowiest on record in the City of Ottawa.

Environment Canada's Geoff Coulson tells CFRA News the winter is now "firmly" ranked second after 28 cm of snow dumped on Ottawa on Wednesday.

Ottawa has now received 355 cm of snow this winter. The record for snowiest winter is 444 cm set in 1970-71.

The 28 cm of snow on Wednesday set the record for most snow on March 5th. In 1993, Ottawa received 15.8 cm of snow.

For the Americans out there... 355.cm is roughly 12 feet of snow. I really want spring to get here soon!

NOW! The good news about having crappy weather is sometimes your branch's VP sends out a cryptic message saying that whenever you feel you should leave to make it home safely, you should do so.... which basically means "meh! leave whenever you want!". :) I was home by 3PM! Sweet! ... I spent the rest of the day under the electric blanket though! Damn... I really should have done some yoga or something.... fuck it! :P It's a snow day for fuck's sake!
Today I had:

1.25L celery/spinach/cilantro+kelp+E3live+Himalayan salt
1.25L pineapple
1.25L grapefruit/carrot
500ml coconut water+E3live
1L apple/spinach+Himalayan salt
Probiotics (lesser dose)
Enzymes
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave

Today I did:

Skin brushing
Parasite Zapper 2-3 hours (more on this in a sec)
Acupeds
MSM lotion (handmade by me)

Okay okay! I know I said I would wait until the weekend to try the zapper but I guess I just wanted to test it out. I was scared of it and fascinated by it. As soon as I had the battery I couldn't help myself. I stuck that thing near my ascending colon and was surprised to see that... I couldn't feel anything. Well 10 minutes later it started to itch/burn there so I moved it (as per the directions)... I stuck it on the descending colon and it didn't take long for it to itch/burn there. I moved it around like that for about an hour and finally stuck it in a sock and wore it on my right foot for a few hours (you don't have to worry about the itch/burn on the palms or feet because the skin is thicker there). I decided I wouldn't wear it overnight though... I'm doing the acupeds tonight and I'm targeting the colon this time; I've got an acuped on each foot, landscape style across the lower middle part of my feet (just above the heel). I know it's nuts... but I already feel tingly sensations there and I've only been wearing them for 20 minutes. I love these things!

I'm craving pesto again! Argghh!

Hmmm... What else did I want to talk about? Tomorrow is mega groceries day which is a good thing... my fridge is almost out of fruit... but I still have lots of greens so that's good. I guess I'll be drinking more greens tomorrow LOL.

I didn't get to this yesterday, but Poppy has begun her transition back to solids yesterday and we are all SO PROUD of her for listening to her body and doing such a great job. Poppy was like my little juicy sister; we were only 2 days apart on this raw journey and it's been great juicing alongside her. I encourage all the new juice feasters out there to check out her blog and read about her amazing journey. Poppy's writing style is very poetic and inspirational, so I'm sure you'll be absorbed by her juicy journal. Congrats again Poppy! Grosses caresses! :)

Whoa! It's fucking midnight already? shit I better get to bed!

Schlaf gut!!! :)

- Ben

Day 51 - Something's up

2008-03-04T23:31:00.000-05:00

Something’s up. I’m not sure what but I was really knackered all day yesterday and felt …well like shit. I had dizzy spells and was irritable. I left work an hour early.

I took a moment and I listened to my body….. I asked it what it felt it needed and suddenly the answer came; an enema and some sleep. So I got home, prepared the enema… I held it in for a while and evacuated a lot of stuff (like always!). I did a second enema with slippery elm bark and then I went to take a 2 hour nap. That nap turned out to be “sleeping through the night”. I guess my body is really busy healing… either r that or I’m doing too much detoxing stuff right now; chanca piedra, beet juice, acupeds… maybe I need to slow down. I skipped the acupeds yesterday and maybe that was a good idea.

I got new nut mylk bags yesterday and that was a really good idea. The ones I had since day 1 were getting pretty ratty. These new ones work like a charm! They are also A LOT easier to clean for some reason! :) That’s always a good thing!

I counted how many times I went to pee in an 8 hour workday and well… it was 8 times! I’m convinced my 8 month pregnant boss isn’t going to pee this often! *giggles*

I got my parasite zapper by mail yesterday! The funny thing was, the envelope had been opened and there was a big “opened by CBSA” sticker on it. CBSA (for the non-Canadians reading this) is the Canada Border Services Agency… so like customs! I could just imagine what they thought it was. It’s funny that the declaration form had been labeled as “massager”. That thing looks nothing like a massager. I need to buy a battery for this thing but I’m not going to start using it until this weekend. From what I read on the parasite zapper website, you become a “public menace” on the first day (from farting a lot!?)… So maybe I’ll wait until I’m home alone to start wearing it! Hahahaha!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro+kelp+spirulina+E3live+Himalayan sea salt
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L pineapple/blueberry
500 ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L carrot/beet/grapefruit
1tbsp bee pollen+agave nectar

(I had 1L of coconut water+E3live set aside to drink when I got home but I slept through the rest of the day so I didn’t’ drink that…)

Today I also did:

2L cat’s claw tea enema
1L slippery elm bark enema
10 hours of sleep! Whoa!
I have a lot of comments to catch up on giveittomeraw and globaljuicefeast and I do intend to reply to everyone who writes to me there and on my blog. Just please bear with me, I’ve been really busy and going through a rough patch! :)

Thanks everyone!

- Ben

Day 50 - Meetings meeting meetings

2008-03-03T23:07:00.003-05:00

What the hell? I woke up this morning... and I kept hitting snooze. I got up, took off the acupeds (which were crusty brown again but the one I stuck to my side (near my liver) wasn't as brown as before) and started to make juice. I then remembered in a very "oh shit!" moment that there was a 9:00AM meeting today. Who the hell schedules a meeting at 9AM on a Monday? First of all, my bus gets me to work at 9:05. That involves leaving the house at 8:35. I then realized I'd have to leave at 8:15. I made juice in record time today. I had time for skin brushing and everything!

I walked outside only to find out that the entire city was a giant skating rink. The sidewalks were incredibly slippery and there was freezing rain outside. I kept having visions of slipping, falling and all my mason jars of juice breaking, leaving me drenched in a tie-dye mix of various juices.

Luckily I got to work without incident. The first meeting was a giant waste of time but it was an 'all staff meeting'. People across other department that I know by name but never formally work with were there. My morning green juice became a topic of discussion and I even spotted some people writing down the recipe for it! Hilarious!!! :)

After the first meeting I realized today was a 'meeting-a-palooza' day. I had 4 meetings on my schedule. Sigh. By the 2PM meeting I ACTUALLY FELL ASLEEP during the meeting. It was downright embarassing! I have no idea why I got so tired; either fruit juices are finally getting to me and I'm feeling the 'crash' that accompanies them or I was just downright tired of meetings... I also could have gotten more sleep last night!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro/parsley+kelp+E3live+Himalayan salt
1.25L green apple/kiwi
1.25L pineapple blueberry
500ml pineapple/green apple/kiwi (I had extra juice from those first two, mixed them together.. .SO GOOD!)
1L coconut water
500ml water+chanca piedra
300ml water+ chanca piedra
probiotics
enzymes
1tbsp bee pollen+honey
few tbsp honey again (sorry!)

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
30 minutes yoga

Yep......... I need some Zzzz! Ttyl fellow juicy people! :)

- Ben ........ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 49 - Cleanse the mind

2008-03-02T23:45:00.004-05:00

I should be in bed by now but I got distracted by the great video Katrina and David Rainoshek posted on globaljuicefeast.com today. I'm coming to a lot of realizations lately. My mind is being opened to a lot of new ideas and I'm coming to conclusions that I don't think I would have found had it not been for this juice feast.

I'm realizing that, while I've been making this effort to cleanse my body.... I also need to take that same amount of effort to cleanse my mind. Now, this may sound pretty fruity, especially coming from a staunch atheist but in all honesty... if plants die from heavy metal music and thrive when classical music is played, I think it's safe to assume that our minds, which are much more complex things, respond negatively to negative things. I think Yoga is helping me with this but I want to do some more work in this department.

I had a big chat with my mom today and came clean about her behavior affecting me negatively. I've asked her to be supportive and the rest of our interactions were actually really positive. I think I may have gotten through to her! I'm so much more assertive lately; at work, with my family, with friends.... That's SO not me; I normally just 'bend over and take it' and then bitch about it. But you know what, I've surprised myself at how straightforward I've been with people lately. My body is detoxing and so is my mind.

I'm playing some nice soothing Mazzy Star right now.... I love her music... it makes me feel very serene. :)

In other random news, my NYC plans are shaping up beautifully. I'm planning on taking a nice little 'raw retreat' at the end of April (post-juice feasting treat) and going to sample all sorts of goodies from raw restaurants in NYC. Also, I want to meet all these really inspirational people I had the pleasure to feast with! :) My sister drives down to NJ every few weeks to visit her boyfriend and so I'm going to hop in for the ride and then make my way to NYC. Fun fun!! :)

Today I had:

1.25L celery/collard greens/parsley+kelp+E3live+Spirulina+Himalayan salt
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L grannysmith apple/kiwi
1.00L cantaloupe juice
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L grapefruit/apple/spinach/cilantro (YUM! this reminded me of Sarma's cilantro smoothie that I used to make every morning)
500ml water+chanca piedra
1tbsp bee pollen+honey
lots of honey today (I won't buy anymore when the jar runs out... it's a convenience thing more than a craving thing at this point!)

Today I also did:

35 minutes yoga
crunches
my own homemade msm lotion
acupeds!
Self hypnosis for psoriasis healing (mp3 file while I sleep)

For those who are wondering, I woke up to find out my acupeds were REALLY dark brown. yuck! A really weird thing happened though; totally forgot to take probiotics and enzymes today but I wasn't gassy at all... I'm normally always bloated to some extent.... I wonder if the acupeds did that?? :) Hey I'm happy! :)

I'm also FINALLY starting to crave more greens.... this is awesome! It's about damn time! LOL

- Ben (still trying to attain nirvana)

Day 48 - Happy Feet!

2008-03-02T00:46:00.009-05:00

I spent pretty much all day on giveittomeraw.com today. This is my new crack-like addiction. I love that place. Don't worry; I'm still a denizen of globaljuicefeast.com. :)

I'm in bed right now, on the end of day 48 and I'm quite content. I got in all the juices that I wanted and I had a really great day. I ran some quick errands today; I noticed that I would be out of MSM by tomorrow and also lemons! I went to the health food store to pick up some lemons and also stopped by a natural health products store to pick up some MSM powder (killer deal! 300g, 20$!). I decided I wanted to get some acupeds! I used to get these (well another version, same idea) in Vancouver's chinatown when I was a flight attendant. Acupeds are GREAT quality though and made with all natural ingredients; I'm not sure about the ones I used to buy seeing as all the ingredients were written in mandarin.
Now, I seem to have created quite a hubbub about acupeds on giveittomeraw.com so let me tell you all about them now. They're basically these white pads right? You stick them onto your feet (or other areas of the body....but more on this later) when you're ready to go to bed. When you wake up, you discover that they've turned this icky brown colour. They basically draw out toxins from the body. When you sleep, the body stores the toxins as far away from the heart as it can; in your feet! Perfect time to draw those toxins out!

The feet are known as the 'second heart' in Chinese medicine. All the organs of the body are mapped out on the feet. Tonight, I'm going to use the acupeds to draw toxins out of my liver; I'm placing one on the right foot (just below the little toe...covering the upper left-hand corner of my right foot) and another acuped pad on my right side (just above my hip). This combo should help draw out bad stuff from my liver.

The acuped pads come with instructions on how to place the pads based on your detox-desires ... don't worry; I'm not coming up with this information out of a Jungian collective knowledge bank! :)

In other news; I have a 10AM Ionic foot bath booked for next Saturday; same idea! The ionic water draws out toxins of the feet through reverse osmosis. The water goes from clear to black! Yuck!!! I've never tried it before but I can't wait to see what happens! :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
750ml celery/cilantro/black kale+E3live+kelp+Himalayan salt+chanca piedra
1.25L grape/apple/strawberry!! MMMM
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.5L watermelon juice
1L cucumber/spinach (nasty! not doing this one again!)
500ml water+chanca piedra
1 tbsp bee pollen+honey
1 tbsp honey
probiotics
enzymes

Today I also did:

Lots of R&R
30 minutes on the rebounder (alternating bouncing with crunches)
Acupeds!

In other news, my mom is driving me nuts about my vegan lifestyle and everything in between again. Poppy is also having the same kind of issue with her family. It must be global "annoy your veggie children" day. I posted about this on giveittomeraw.com and I won't be getting into this topic much further. Luckily I got TONS of great advice. We'll see how things go from here.

Another quick poop report.... I had another "green water" incident this afternoon. I have no idea why I'm having 'green water' BMs. I figure it's either the watermelon juice acting as 'draino'.... the chanca piedra or the hemp seed oil that I've taken 'shot style'. I hope I figure this out soon because it worries me that my morning green juice seems to just me running right through me without any digestion.....

Oh! Now that my poop report is done.... WELCOME TO ALL THE NEW JUICE FEASTERS OUT THERE!!! :) I'm so happy to be juicing it up with you. I hope your day "1" was really great!!! :)

- Ben

Day 47 - My bed

2008-02-29T23:51:00.004-05:00

My Bed is a work by the British artist Tracey Emin. It was exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1999 as one of the shortlisted works for the Turner Prize. It consisted of her bed with bedroom objects in an abject state, and gained much media attention. Although it did not win the prize, its notoriety has persisted.

- Wikipedia

Why the Contemporary Art lesson today? Well I spent the day in bed today.... the ENTIRE day. I managed to score a weekend off from the hotel and a day off from working for the Harper-man. I'm so happy about having a three day weekend (as opposed to working 7 days a week like I normally do). I decided day 1 of 'ben's weekend of fantabulousness' should consist of doing NOTHING seeing as I'm always doing something. I spent all day in bed.... (with my laptop) listening to tunes on last.fm, keeping up the blog, reading other people's blogs, going on giveittomeraw.com and globaljuicefeast.com. I got out of bed for juice, 40 minutes of yoga, to pee all the fucking time and to do an enema... that's it. No TV! :)

I feel SOOOO good right now. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Can I just stay in bed for the rest of my life? Pleeeeeeeeeeeaaase? :)

Today I had:

1L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/cilantro/black kale+E3live+kelp+Himalayan salt
1.25L apple/grape/strawberry
250ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L watermelon
500ml coconut water
250ml water+chanca piedra
1Tbsp bee pollen+honey
2Tbsp honey
1Tbsp (shot glass-style! LOL) hempseed oil
Probiotics

Today I also did:

2L cat's claw/slippery elm enema
40 minutes yoga
Stayed in bed all day!!! :)

I started my chanca piedra pretty late in the game... so I don't know if I should take it for 30 days regardless of how it will overlap with my parasite cleanse or if I should stop at day 60... I'll have to ask David what he thinks. I FINALLY got the tincture yesterday.... I can't believe how long it took for that to get shipped here! Whoa! Chanca Piedra tastes a lot like this tea this chinese doctor used to make for my psoriasis. I'm guessing some of the herbs in the chanca piedra were part of that concoction. I'm starting to wish I had gone with the capsules! LOL

I weighed myself this morning and found out I'm at 144.6lbs. This means I've officially lost 25 lbs! This is also the LEAST I've weighed since my early teens! :) I'm sooo happy! I want to lose another 10lbs and that's it! :) I really like myself at this size.... I feel more compact... like a smart car! :)

I had some really weird toilet moments today; after the enema I kept going to the bathroom and evacuating 'green water'. I have no idea what this means; am I not digesting the green juice I had in the morning?? I took some probiotics and it calmed down all the weird gurgly noises emanating from my tummy. After I took the probiotics, the green water BMs stopped... *sigh of relief* Though, I don't know if the probiotics really did anything; my feeling is that this was all coincidental.

Did I mention how I'm sick of being cold all the time? Thank god for my electric blanket.... I don't care if it's bad for me to be around electro-whatever.... I LOVE this thing! :) I'm allowed to have ONE vice, right? :)

Oh! I also had a really odd dream where I made a raw cake using a really weird butternut squash (with many many tiny parallel ridges... like a starfruit... but with more tiny ridges). I had brought the cake to a job interview as a bribe and the interviewer was concerned that there wouldn't be enough cake for everyone in the office. I was adamant that there was. I had decorated the cake with all these pumpkin-leather loops. It was a beautiful cake and I think I know intuitively how I would make such a cake.... The universe is sending me raw-recipes in my dreams! Nuts!!! :)

- Ben

PS: totally looked at raw-food porn today and was fine... no cravings.... but fuck I can't wait to start cooking again! :) I think I'll order 7 or 8 more raw cookbooks around day 80 :)

Day 46 - Over the hill

2008-02-28T23:54:00.001-05:00

This is going to be a long post, so forgive me... I have many items on today's agenda. In the interest of saving you time, I'll index my topics today:

Advice for those about to begin Juice Feasting
Today's juice feasting log
The enema edition
Special mention - Carrie :)

Advice for those about to begin Juice Feasting

It's day 46 and things are going great. I'm officially 'over the hill' in juice feasting terms; 46 days down, 46 days to go. I'm so happy. Juice feasting has been tumultuous at times and quite enlightening at other times. I’ve learned a lot about my own body and I suggest that, should you be about to start juice feasting, listen to your own body as well.

My new juicy-to-be friend on giveittomeraw who has psoriasis mentioned to me how she would follow my blog while juice feasting and I was quick to mention how I learned a lot from my own body whilst juice feasting and I suggested she do the same. If you do have psoriasis and decide to juice feast, by all means, read my blog in its entirety to get a general feel for what I’ve done… but this isn’t a blueprint for how to rid yourself of psoriasis; juice feasting in general will do that for you (by detoxing the body), along with regular colonics, chiropractic adjustments, supplements to heal leaky-gut syndrome and yoga to calm the body.

I guess the best piece of advice I have for anyone about to start juice feasting on March 1rst is be open to ‘what is’. Don’t have any expectations of how this will unfold and take it one day at a time. I was quite certain around day 15 that the worse was behind me and this was going to get easier as I went forward. That isn’t always the case… I encountered several challenges through juice feasting: intense stomach pains, variation of a torticollis (unable to speak for an entire day), problems with bloating and really intense cravings. Just remember ‘this too shall pass’. Take a deep breath, find your center…. Do yoga; for whatever reason, yoga seems to ‘calm the storm’ for me. Maybe it will do the same for you.

Today’s juice feasting log

Today was great; the hour of yoga I did yesterday really seems to have calmed my cravings and intense desire to stop juice feasting. I’m feeling very Zen. Today was also mega groceries day; I got some really awesome finds. I got TONS of organic grapefruits. I remember reading in the 90’s how they’re supposed to be a fat-burning food but I don’t know if that’s a myth lol! I was unable to find any blood oranges this week; I’ll venture to another supermarket this week to see if I can find some… seriously… I’m addicted to those things. They’re my candy!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/green chard/parsley
1.25L grapefruit/orange/carrot
1.25L Spinach/Apple
750ml Peppermint tea
500ml coconut water
750ml plum juice (I was so hyped about this one but it was surprisingly not all that impressive)
1 Tbsp bee pollen+honey
2 Tbsp honey
Probiotics

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Crap… does mega groceries count?

I also woke up around midnight (after passing out on the couch) and had another ‘normal person’ BM. I have no idea where this stuff is coming from…. It’s like a mystery! If nothing comes from nothing (thank you Parmenides) and no poo comes from no food… then where is this coming from? LOL! Someone call Mulder and Scully!

The enema edition

A special edition explaining the whole enema process was added today; it was so long I added it in a separate post; scroll down to view it.

Special mention

Carrie has moved on to the second phase of her healing journey; from juice feasting to feast breaking and soon to whole foods feasting. She has had an amazing journey and probably has one of the most detailed blogs out there. I have learned a lot from Carrie’s experience and I am proud to have had the chance to juice alongside her. Do visit her blog!! It’s awesome! :) I awarded Carrie the Juice Feaster Award yesterday to congratulate her on her amazing journey. Congrats Carrie!!! You’re amazing!!! :)

That's my super long post for today :)

- Ben

Special Edition - The enema edition

2008-02-28T10:25:00.000-05:00

Yep… that last bit brings me to this subject. Ramona wanted me to write about the different kinds of enemas I’ve been doing. I think this is a great opportunity to have a little ‘enema edition’.

First of all, I know a lot of people are apprehensive about enemas and colonics. Don’t be. It’s good to do ‘house cleaning’ once in a while. The colon has all these tiny pockets and stuff can get stuck in there and remain impacted for great lengths of time. It weakens the colon and can release toxins into the lymphatic system. When I last had a colonic, I passed a lot of ‘fecal stones’…. Tiny pieces of poo that were stuck in these colon pockets…. Not good! The good news is, fasting/juicing weakens the ability that these things have to hold on to the colon wall. Juice feasting in tandem with enemas and/or regular colonics will help you get rid of these nasty things!

Poo! Yes, first of all… try to poo. The preference here is to have normal BMs over having to do enemas. You shouldn’t rely on enemas to have BMs. Enemas are to help the cleansing process. My newest friend Kyle wrote the best entry about pooping here. I highly recommend giving it a read. Seriously; everyone should be born with this pooping manual! :)

Get the right equipment! I have an open top enema kit that works with gravity. I bought mine here. This is the ideal type of enema bag you want to get. It’s easy to clean, dump your water/tea into and it releases water slowly into the colon. It also has a valve that is easily accessible for you to stop the flow when the bag is empty or if you just need a moment to breathe through a ‘peristalsis’ moment.

The right ingredients! I’ve personally used plain water, coffee, burdock tea and cat’s claw tea so far. That being said, there is a plethora of teas you can use (you can even add a squeeze of lemon to plain water) to enhance the enema experience.

* Remember to be careful about the temperature of this stuff; I personally like to have enemas at a 100F temperature… just above body temp. I have a candy thermometer to make sure that the temperature of the liquid is safe. I wouldn’t have an enema with liquid above 103F. Cooler temps are good to end the enemas as they help the colon contract.

Pure water enemas: definitely start with this if you’re new to enemas. Your first few enemas should just be pure distilled water. When making the other types of enemas, ensure you’re using pure distilled water as well.

Coffee enemas are a great liver detoxifier. They help dilate the bile ducts and get some bad stuff out. They’re a great one to have in the morning. Detailed information on coffee enemas (which are quite common) can be found here. This one can be quite intense! I got the shakes and chills and heard a lot of funny noises coming from my stomach at one point. Be prepared.

Burdock tea enemas: Burdock is a really great blood purifier. Doing enemas with burdock tea is a great way to start if you’re new to ‘special enemas’. It’s good to hold this one for a while before evacuating it.

Cat’s claw tea enemas: by far my favorite. I have to thank Carrie for familiarizing me with this one. It’s a very good enema; but very intense. It’s like it claws at the colon walls and gets all the nasties out. I’m always surprised at how much I eliminate after one of those. I call it ‘the big guns’. Cat’s claw has restorative effects on the colon walls. It’s very good for people with ‘leaky gut syndrome’ (such as those people with psoriasis and eczema).

Cat’s claw is a novel herb that has been researched lately for its, "remarkable ability to cleanse the entire intestinal tract and help those suffering from different stomach and bowel disorders", including Crohn’s disease, gastritis, ulcers, parasites, candidiasis, diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, leaky gut, and intestinal flora imbalance (Dr. Brent Davis, DC Wellness Advocate Feb 1995;5(1):1-4).

Another good one for restorative effects on the colon wall are slippery elm enemas (2tbsp slippery elm bark per quart of pure water).

Google “enema recipes”. There are tons of enema combos out there; wheatgrass enemas, neem tea enemas, catnip enemas…. Also look into implants (wheatgrass, E3live, etc).

Once the concoction is inside you, you need to massage your tummy. There is an awesome youtube video on how to massage your tummy and administer an enema here.

Of course, enemas are no match for a good colonic! Colonics are great for evacuating more impacted material; you basically go through 40L of water in one session. That’s like 20 enemas in a row! The colonic will also introduce a lot more water into the transverse and ascending parts of the colon which are harder to reach with enemas. Those are also spots where stuff tends to get stuck. So… go get colonics! :)

This concludes my enema report! :)

- Ben

PS: Yes.. that is a picture of an enema brooch pin!

Day 45 - Calm after the storm

2008-02-27T23:02:00.000-05:00

Today things seemed to calm down craving wise. I still could not stop thinking about the honey jar. When I finally got home from work, I dipped into it a bit and then felt really nauseated. I think I’ve managed to sicken myself off honey for a bit. Whoa!

I’m really proud of myself though because I got a lot done yesterday in ‘the office of healing’. I did an hour of Namaste yoga. The first episode I did yesterday is a kepper! It had a lot of asanas that focused on the abs. I’m also managing to do the warrior 3 pose more easily. I also did a really good cat’s claw enema that came out red from all the beets I’ve been drinking lately LOL.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/dandelion greens
1.25L pineapple/blood orange
1.25L grapefruit/orange/beet/carrot
750ml coconut water
1Tbsp bee pollen+honey
A few tablespoons of honey…again!

Today I also did:

1 Chiropractic adjustment
2L cat’s claw enema
1 hour Namaste TV yoga

I felt much better after the yoga. I think it may have calmed the inner chaos. It had been a while since I had done yoga… maybe I just needed to feel grounded again. From now on, I need to keep doing yoga everyday! :)

My chiropractor was blown away today as to how great my skin is doing. She asked me a lot of information about juice feasting and asked me about how the program worked, if anyone was 'supervising me' through this. I told her all about our juicy community and she said she wants to know more about it and may refer some of her patients to juice feasting as well! :) I'm converting people! Whahahaha! :)

- Ben

Today’s photo from http://www.andysartwork.com/

Day 44 - Binge monster

2008-02-26T23:26:00.003-05:00

First of all, I just want to thank everyone for their comments regarding yesterday's post. I am so grateful to have juicy friends like you. It's really great to have a support group like this and also know that I'm not the only one having these experiences. It's been a tough couple of days, today has not been any different. I have no idea where this is coming from. The Freud-obsessed part of me is struggling to find a repressed desire that is manifesting as a manic desire for solid food... but as Freud once said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". Sometimes a desire for solid food is just a desire for solid food. I guess I just need to keep reminding myself that "this too shall pass".

I'm afraid there was a lot of dipping into the honey jar today. I saw the amount of calories per tablespoon of honey today and was floored! No wonder I spontaneously gained 1lbs out of nowhere! Fuck... I have to fix this.... no more binging on honey! Maybe I'll cut down on fruit juice over the next few days and try more greens. I may try some self-hypnosis to try and repress this habit too. I've always had a lot of success with self-hypnosis.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/red chard/collard greens/parsley+kelp+E3live
1.25L pineapple/blood orange
1.25L granny smith apple/kiwi (mmm! mmm! mmm!)
500ml Robois tea
500ml mint tea
750ml coconut water
1.00L grapefruit/blood orange/beet
500ml American saffron tea
1Tbsp bee pollen
Probiotics
Lots of honey :( :(

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
15 min rebounder

You know... it's nuts how much liquid I drank today! LOL

Almost halfway done... :) Thanks again everyone... you guys are amazing :)

Kuß!! :)

- Ben

Day 43 - Teenage lust

2008-02-25T23:43:00.002-05:00

I had a really bizarre experience today. I went to buy some raw honey from a local guy and then went to the natural health food store to pick up some agave and a few other veggies/fruits. I love the health food store; I always feel like a kid in a candy store whenever I go there. Now, you'd think, while fasting, I would try to be in and out of there as soon as possible. Nope! You'd think I was into S&M or something. I walked through EVERY aisle and looked at all the food with an intense fascination. I was craving everything I was seeing. I was picking stuff up, reading ingredients (is this vegan?) and imagining how it would taste like. There was so much new stuff... tons of vegan indian food too! I even found some unpasteurized sauerkraut! Yep... I wanted to eat it all... I almost turned into the incredible hulk!

I was STAAARVING by the time I left the store; the torture I put myself through was not a brilliant idea. I asked myself "what the hell was I thinking?". I came to the conclusion that I was looking at this food... not to feel strong (as I felt weak).... not out of fascination .... I was in fact LUSTING for that food. I was looking at it....drooling.... with an intense teenage lust I only feel when looking at pictures of Axel Hermann.

I want solid food... REALLY badly. I'm feeling very week today in that department... I feel like I may not reach day 92 (but I know better). Let me rephrase that.... I know I'll do this until day 92... but I don't want to... I just want to sit back and eat 1kg of cashews (not even the raw ones, the roasted salted ones). What the hell happened? I had it together!

I guess that's why I bought that sugary stuff (honey & agave). I got home and had a few spoonfuls of the honey (try not to do this whilst juice feasting... not good!). It momentarily calmed my inner child that just wants yummy things to eat. Fuck... I feel so deprived of culinary experimentation in the kitchen... I love to mix flavours etc.... God... I just want this to be over... and I'm not even halfway done yet. Arrrghh!

Sorry... but you know what... I thought I had to be honest about my moment of weakness. Sigh. Anyhow... rest assured, I didn't eat anything solid yet :P I'm still in this for the long road.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/parlsey+kelp
1.25L grape/blood orange/strawberry (I could live on this juice!!)
1.00L cantaloupe
1.00L coconut water
1.00L grapefruit/beet
1tbsp bee pollen

Today I also did:

Fuck all!... housecleaning! LOL Seriously need to do some yoga again... but I worked a 10 hour day today so I was tired! :)

Mit liebe ♥ ! :)

- Ben

Day 42 - Relaxation time! :)

2008-02-24T23:01:00.001-05:00

Today was my relaxation day. Sundays are the closest thing to a day off I get right now. As most of you know, I work 7 days a week. Sundays are the only time I get 24 consecutive hours sans-work.

I basically had an American Idol marathon thanks to my TIVO. Hehehe. I spent most of the day vegging on the couch and I did some rebounding. I think I need those days; those days where you just veg-out. I asked for a paid weekend off at the hotel soon so hopefully in 2 weeks I’ll be able to have some Zen time. I need some time off… I feel like I’m about to have a burnout pretty soon.

Today I had:

500ml water+slippery elm
1L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/red chard/parsley
1.25L red grape/blood orange/strawberry (yuuuuuum!... surprisingly thick too!)
500ml grapefruit/blood orange/beet
750ml cantaloupe
1Tbsp bee pollen

Today I also did:

15 minutes on the rebounder
2L Cat’s claw enema

I was supposed to have another green juice in there but I passed out on the couch! LoL. Oh well!

Yesterday I made a new friend on “Give it to me raw”. She’s also suffering from psoriasis and asked me for some advice. I’m so happy that this regimen is working for me. I do hope that my tailored approach to juice feasting (introducing ideas from Cayce & Pagano to JFing) will help others. I’m just happy to have a Juice Feasting buddy who’s also a Flaker (slang for psoriasis-sufferer hehe)! Hopefully we’ll both be ditching that label forever quite soon! J

My parasite zapper was shipped yesterday… I can’t wait for it to get here! I know right, who looks forward to sticking a machine that shoots them electrical shocks? LOL!

- Ben

Day 41 - Bouncy!

2008-02-23T23:16:00.000-05:00

Yep! This kid is the newest juice feaster to own a rebounder. There's a store in the city's west end selling Needaks for really cheap; 199$ for a non-folding model, 229$ for a folding model. Needless to say, in a small apartment, the folding option comes in handy....especially with my minimalist penchant for interior design. This thing even has a carrying case and slides right under my designer couch! :) Whooo hoo! I looooooves it! I looooooves it! :)

Today was not-so mega grocery day; we've decided to move mega grocery day to Thursday evenings. Maybe this will be better; I know a few stores get some produce in on that day. I couldn't find organic pineapples anywhere in this city today (well rainbow foods had organic pineapples the size of my fist for sale... hardly worth the price!). Organic greens were dirt cheap at Herb & Spice this week! Spinach bunches were going for 2$! :) Mmmmm... spinach! :) Black kale (which normally goes for $3.99) was going for $2.49!

I didn't drink much juice today because of the overnight thing/napping during the day. I was supposed to get in 4L but I slept through my alarm. I had to choose between taking a shower and making juice... shower won! I'd rather be starving than stinky! :P I'm a bit nervous about how tonight is going to go... hopefully if I drink a lot of water I won't feel hungry (and if I abstain from looking at raw cooking blogs lol). In case you're wondering, I also missed my daily water/msm combo for the FIRST TIME since I began JFing... I know! It's very sad... I just couldn't be bothered this morning when I got home from the hotel; I was sooooo hungry!

Today I had:

500ml water+slippery elm
1L celery/kale+kelp
1.25L granny smith apple/kiwi
1.00L cantaloupe juice+hemp oil (shot glass + chaser LOL)
1L cat's claw tea and/or American saffron tea (throughout the night, I hope)
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
6 probiotic caps

Today I also did:

30 minutes on the rebounder
(was running late, no time for skin brushing or anything!)

I was on globaljuicefeast.com today and I realized how much we're all so blessed to have this innate kinship with other juice feasters throughout this process. I think, without the company and support of fellow juice feasters in the blogging world or the globaljuicefeast.com website, this would be quite a solitary journey. I don't feel alone at all in this, and it's all because of you guys. So thanks a lot :) If I had a mason jar of green juice with me right now, I'd raise it and toast to you guys ! :) Big hugs! :)

This reminds me, if you haven't joined globaljuicefeast.com yet, get your juicy butt in gear and do it now! :)

- Ben

Day 40 - Confessions of a juice feasting shopaholic

2008-02-22T23:12:00.001-05:00

I've been doing way too much online shopping lately. So far today I've purchased:

Healthforce Parasite formula (day 60 is coming soon!)
Healthforce intestinal movement formula
Healthforce intestinal drawing formula
"Total leaky gut" formula
Terminator Zapper (Thanks Suki for letting me know where to buy it!)

Tomorrow... I may possibly buy a needak rebounder...

The office of healing is one hell of an expensive office! LOL. I'm worth it though right? Plus all this shopping is cheering me up.... I've decided no more yoga classes for a while. I think I do better at home and it will be less expensive AND cut down on travel time which means I'll have more time to do other stuff. So that's it; I've compromised by swapping regular yoga classes for a rebounder.

I can't believe it's day 40 and my chanca piedra isn't here yet. I'm kind of annoyed at this. I ordered it a while ago... uuurrrgh! I should have just gone with the capsules I had found in the health food stores here. I really wanted to get the tincture though.

I hope all this other stuff gets here soon. I feel like a druggy at work lately; popping pills left right and centre (probiotics and enzymes mostly)... I can't imagine when it will come the time to take all the healthforce products and the parasite formula... I'm going to wait until AFTER the parasite formula to start taking the total leaky gut formula though. Detox first, repair after...right? :)

I was drinking my coconut water at work today and my senior director asked "how long has this been going on now??" and I said "40 days" to which he replied "so... it's almost over?". I said; "yea... in 52 days".

"You're nuts!"

LOL. Well maybe it seems that way to 'normal people' but I'm quite enjoying touching my legs at night and feeling only smooth skin. From a visual point of view, you can still tell where the lesions were... but it feels very smooth now. There still is a lot more healing that needs to happen on my arms and torso though... so I'm just going to have to keep going with the healing. We apparently get a whole new set of skin every 28 days.... so maybe by the time JFing is over, 2 new sets of skin from now, I'll have beautiful flawless psoriasis-free skin. Keep your fingers crossed! :)

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm bark
1.25ml water+msm+lemon
1.25ml celery/collard greens+spirulina+kelp
1.25ml pineapple/blood orange (yum yum!!)
1.25ml pineapple/apple/blood orange/carrot (yum yum yum!!)
1L coconut water
1L apple/black kale
500ml American Saffron tea
1L cat's claw tea (throughout the night shift, I'm hoping)
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave nectar
6 Probiotic caps
6 Full spectrum enzymes caps

Today I also did:

Skin Brushing
No exercise today....but I got a good nap before coming to work at the hotel :)
"Very satisfactory crap"

**Poop report... you've been warned!**
...Yea... to quote Carrie, today I had a most "satisfactory crap". I stood there, baffled as to how this was possible... but I had a 'normal person' bowel movement today... Actually... I had a 'vegan person bowel movement' (which are typically larger than normal people bowel movements and flow out faster). I just had a colonic like... 4 days ago!?!!? Where did this come from??!?!?! I haven't had anything solid to eat in 40 days and I haven't had a BM this size in over a month! Am I sleep-eating? LOL... I could just see myself making artichoke-almond pesto in my sleep and eating it over spelt noodles! Hahahhaa! :)

- Ben

Day 39 - Bummed

2008-02-21T23:26:00.002-05:00

I’m totally bummed today. It’s just one of those days where you question everything. Total new low for me. Sigh.

There was a catalyst though. I found out that I’m not qualified to do the job I’ve been doing for the last 6 months. I’ve been a marketing officer now for a while and have been doing an amazing job; my manager and director are both impressed with the work I’ve been doing. Technically, I’m doing the job of two people; kiosks was one person’s full time job and the rest of my tasks were another person’s job. I applied to do this job permanently in November and just found out I’ve been cut from the competitive process. Yep, because my frilly art school diploma isn’t a university diploma, I’m basically not qualified to do the job I’ve been doing.

I’m a bit ticked, sad and pissed off. I started sending my resume everywhere out of spite. This isn’t helping me stay very Zen right now. I’m not feeling like coming into work at all. Urgh. The good news is, I still have a job for at least 2 months… but still! Urgh! I basically got home after work yesterday and went straight to bed; I’m exhausted this week to begin with and well…this….this just made me want to crawl into bed and never return to the real world (this isn’t meant to sound suicidal lol… I just like my bed… I could honestly live there forever if it wasn’t for needing to pee every once in a while!) :P

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/black kale/parsley+kelp+E3live
1.25L pineapple/blueberry
1L blood orange juice
1L coconut water
1L Granny smith/kale
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
6 Probiotic caps
6 Full Spectrum enzymes caps

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Slept for 10 hours straight

That’s all I have to report today.

- Ben

Day 38 - Yoga Mania!

2008-02-20T23:14:00.001-05:00

(late posting… backdated for blogging accuracy…sorry for the delay!)

Today was pretty uneventful. The good news is, I started taking the probiotics as directed by David and Katrina and my tummy is feeling much better already. I was getting pretty sick of feeling like a hot air balloon all the time. I went back to Aylmer today for another fun filled day of kiosk fun. It was another ‘parade of food’ during lunch time. It occurred to me that on day 2 or 3 (I think) of juice feasting, I was at the exact same hotel watching the exact same parade of food. I was ready to hulk out back then, but this time… it all seemed quite weird to me. It was also funny to see other kiosk people being really concerned at the fact that I wasn’t eating. They said things like “you don’t have to be shy eh? You can go eat something!” I told them I packed my own lunch and I was fine.

Seeing as I wasn’t bloated when I got home, I decided to go to Yoga. I decided to take the Kundalini class, thinking it would be like the Namaste yoga show. Nope! It was pretty much all floor and breathwork and heavily based on meditation, mantras and chanting. It was all a bit too much; the chanting especially. I found out later that I should really take a Hatha yoga class or a Vinuyasha class. Something to keep in mind for next time. I’m not entirely sure if I’ll go back to yoga class; I found it really distracting to be aware of other people around me. I find I’m more ‘focused and meditative’ when I’m doing yoga at home, alone. Also, I’m starting to think I’d like to save that money I’d hypothetically be spending for yoga classes and buy a rebounder. I’m going to check my finances and figure out what to do about that.

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/collar greens/parlsey+spirulina+kelp
500ml Echinacea tea1.25L watermelon juice
1.25L pineapple/blueberry1L coconut water
1L red gala apple/pineapple/strawberry (YUM!)1L granny smith apple/kale750ml cat’s claw tea

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
1 hour kundalini yoga
30 minutes meditation

That apple/pineapple/strawberry juice was amazing! It made me so happy… plus it gave me tons of yoga energy!

That’s it for me!

- Ben

Day 37 - Super juicy powers!

2008-02-19T23:08:00.000-05:00

Yes, while I wasn't wearing my superman underwear today (don't laugh, I do own this exact pair!) I did have quite a super hero day. I woke up at 3AM to make juice. That's right, 3AM. I had to be in Aylmer (about a 30 min cab ride away) by 7:00AM to set up my kiosk. So I made my juices and then realized I had a lot of free time. So I did a sun saluation followed by 30 minutes of various asanas. Then... I realized I had 'morning brain' because I really didn't have all that free time to do yoga and I had to be out the door in 30 minutes. I did it ! :) With all my juices packed away in my rollie, of course! :)

The kiosk day was uneventful. I got home and I *really* wanted to go to a yoga centre near my place for an hour and a half of yoga. Unfortunately I was so bloated I figured that wouldn't be a good idea. I did 10 minutes of asanas designed to help relieve gas... and there was still some trapped. I ended up doing a pure water enema which, surprisingly enough (after having a colonic the day before) made me eliminate quite a lot of stuff. I couldn't believe it. And I knew that was only part of it. So I grabbed the big guns: cat's claw tea! That stuff just gets all the nasties out! I felt SOOO much better after my cat's claw enema. I got rid of it all; some more impacted stuff plus all that gas.

I decided that, seeing as I wasn't going to yoga, I would go for a run. Yes, I went running into a snow storm! hahaha. The weather wasn't all that cold, but it was windy and snowing. It was nice! :) I ran to the book store and picked up a copy of "Crazy sexy cancer tips" and then I went to the health food store to pick up some agave nectar, organic strawberries and some all natural dishwashing soap. When I got in, the salesguy said "I was thinking about you today! Some girl came in and she was buying all this stuff and I thought of you and asked her "Are you juicing??". Yes! It seems I had just missed a fellow juice feaster mere moments ago! Hahaha! :) I'm curious to find out who it was but I have my theory. :)

- - - - - - - - - - - -

This brings me to my other subject: Listen up, Ottawa peeps!!:

We're 3 people on the Ottawa group on the Global Juice Feast website. I know I've gotten comments from Ramona who's in Ottawa... Ramona! Please join the Global Juice Feast website; it's awesome... and join the Ottawa group! :)

I just got a comment yesterday from an anonymous user in Ottawa. Please also join the Global Juice Feast 2008 website. I think it's a good idea for us to share Ottawa-specific information amongst each other. There is a link to the site on the right column. To answer that anonymous person's question, I get my colonics at the Natural Health Outreach clinic (it's near Hog's back and Prince of Wales Dr). Helga has been administering colonics since 1994. She has VERY competitive rates and has the option of stainless steel or disposable inserts. I've been going to see her for quite some time. She's amazing. If you do go see her, please mention that you've heard of her through me. I don't make commission or anything, but I'd like her to know I'm sending clients her way since she's such a nice lady.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

To conclude my "super hero day" story... I stopped by a natural health product store on my way home and bought some probiotics to help with the gas. I checked with David and Katrina Rainoshek and they agreed it would be a good idea for me to take some at this point because of all the bloating. I picked up an 8-strain formula by Udo. I also found out that same store offers ionic foot baths! For DIRT CHEAP! $30 a session! :) They also have acuped foot pads for 35$ for a box of 12. This is an amazing deal. I'm pretty broke right now from all the massages, chiro adjustments, the colonic and other stuff.... but in a few weeks I'll be going to get an ionic foot bath plus some acupeds to speed up the detox process.

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25ml celery/spinach/parsley+kelp+E3live
1.25ml pineapple/blueberry
1.25ml watermelon
500ml fruity cocktail goodness juice (aka; extra pineapple juice mixed with extra watermelon juice... INTENSE!)
750ml coconut water
1tbsp bee pollen

Today I also did:

Skin brushing (really quick, I was running late!)
10 min sun salutation
30 min yoga
10 min gas-related asanas
2km run
2L pure water enema
2L cat's claw enema

I passed out rather suddenly around 7 or 8pm while cocooned in my bed reading CSCT. The book is phenomenal so far... I was just really pooped! :) Sorry for the long blog entry guys! :)

Crap! one more thing! :)

I awarded a Juice Feaster's award yesterday to Hanlie of Fertile Healthy. Her blog is very inspiring and I suggest you all take some time to visit it and welcome her into our juicy community. :)

- Ben

Day 36 - The office of healing

2008-02-18T23:09:00.002-05:00

I keep hearing Kris Carr in my head... saying "everyday you're at the office of healing". That's how I feel lately; especially when the whole juice feasting process gets overwhelming. But you know, the office of healing isn't such a bad place to be. I'm going to be purchasing Kris Carr's book today.... Her documentary (DVD) is already on my Amazon.com wishlist; I can't wait for it to come out (sometime in March)! As soon as it does, I'll be buying it from amazon along with a plethora of raw cookbooks.

In a way, I relate to a lot of what Kris has said about cancer. Psoriasis has been *my* guru as well. It's taught me about alkaline diets, cleansing, detoxing, yoga, meditation, juice feasting, edgar cayce..... How different my life would be if I had not been 'blessed' with psoriasis. That's right, I'm finally opening up to the idea that psoriasis is a really f*cked up blessing.

I guess that idea was reinforced yesterday when my colonic practitioner mentioned how I'm lucky to have psoriasis. I was momentarily furious (this disease is nothing pleasant at all, I've enumerated the challenges of living with this disease in previous posts). She then explained how the fact that my body is expelling the toxins through my skin is actually a good thing in a way; for most people, those toxins stay in the body and cause cancer. It was a bit of a different take on it. I guess I'm able to see my psoriasis in a positive light right now because I know it's going away, and I know that, by the time I'm done with this juice feast, I'll never have it again.

Colonics

Now, I'm sure you're all DYING to know how my colonic went! If not, skip this paragraph! I was expecting to go in there and have my practitioner baffled as to why nothing was coming out and the water was coming out clear. Nope! Little did I know, despite doing regular enemas, I was FULL of impacted fecal matter. I told my CP about JF and she thought it was brilliant. I kept elliminating, what she referred to as "fecal stones". These are hard fecal matter that sticks to the walls of the intestines. Unless you fast and get colonics, they pretty much just stay there. I moved out a lot of that stuff along with gas. She could feel impacted waste in my ascending colon so she massaged it; most of that stuff got moved out really quickly. This means my colon is relatively empty! I felt sooo good after that! Very light... I immeditately had some coconut water to rehydrate and replenish my electrolites. Had I known then what I know now, I would have had a colonic 2 or 3 weeks ago. I will be having another one on day 60 and another after I'm done my parasite cleanse and another on the last day of JF.

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm bark
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.5L celery/red chard/parsley+kelp+E3live
1.5L watermelon juice
1L coconut water
750ml grapefruit juice
1tbsp coconut oil

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
1 hour yoga
1 hour colonic

And for those who are wondering; my interview went SMASHINGLY well! :) Honestly, it could not have gone better. I feel so blessed to be so in tune and alert. I know I had some juicy super powers at work during that interview! :)

Today, I leave you with the trailer of Kris Carr's documentary entitled Crazy Sexy Cancer"

- Ben

Day 35 - Namaste.

2008-02-17T23:30:00.000-05:00

Namaste: a greeting which reminds us that our highest potential lies in the realm of no ego. Let us meet in that place.

- Namaste TV

I have been having so much fun doing yoga today. I don't know why I stopped doing it for so many years. I especially love doing it to Namaste TV show. It's very challenging and calming. The show is also so well done; the sceneries are breathtaking! My forward folds are improving day by day! :)

I basically slept most of the day away today; working overnights on weekends has a way of catching up with me. Total zombie day. I've been spending a lot of time reading raw blogs. I can't wait to get started on my raw cooking adventure! I'm so psyched! I also know that I have a newfound patience and love for myself; one that will be more forgiving if I have a piece of cooked food here and there. I'm going to look at it as an opportunity to slowly evolve into being 100% raw. My mistake in the past was to think about it as an "all or nothing" thing. I caved and had cooked butternut squash (not the most unhealthful cooked food one can have, really!) and then gave up on raw altogether. Not this time :)

I've also been thinking about "feast breaking". I can't think of a very 'zen' place in Ottawa to do this... (any suggestions?). I was thinking the Montreal biodome would be a great spot. The zen garden at the Montreal botanical garden will probably still be closed given mid April will still be really cold. :( I also think spending a week in NYC would be AWESOME... I'd love to go to Sarma's restaurant.... but it would suck to go and only be able to eat prunes LOL! Maybe this is best saved for post-feast breaking. If anyone has good ideas about nice spots to break my juice feast (on day 92), please let me know. :) Ottawa or Montreal options preferred! :)

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/watercress+E3live+kelp
750ml blood orange juice
750ml 'summery juice' (see previous post)
250ml American saffron tea
1tbsp bee pollen
1tbsp coconut oil

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Mini-enema (bulb)
1 hour of yoga
msm lotion

That's all for me! Colonic tomorrow! Can't wait! :) I leave you with this intro to the Namaste episode that I've been doing for the last few days.

Isn't it so beautiful and calming? It's only missing cute yoga boys! :)

- Ben

Day 34 - The teenage years

2008-02-16T23:11:00.000-05:00

Today was mega-groceries day again. If it weren't for the fact that the way I buy groceries whilst juice feasting is exceptionally planned out, I would move mega groceries day to another day. I'll have to explore that option.

Saturday mornings at 8am, my mom or dad picks me up with their car so I can venture out for mega groceries. I don't have a car... so it would have practically impossible to do a week's worth of groceries on the bus. When my dad comes, it's awesome. My dad is the calm and relaxed one. When my mom comes.... Well today was a 'mom' day and it didn't go so well. My mom is the most nervous and stressed out person you will ever meet. Driving in the city stressed her out... on a Saturday. She CONSTANTLY second guesses everything I do (or in this case, purchase). She CONSTANTLY gives advice on what I "should" do.... She can be frustrating to be around. I know that it stems from a good place, a place of caring... but after working an overnight shift, being sleep-deprived and grumpy... it's aggravating. We got on each other's nerves a lot today. I could feel my skin reacting to her negativity. I've tried, in the past, to explain how her stressful nature stresses me out, and impedes my ability to heal my psoriasis.... She just doesn't get it.

Sigh... it feels good to let that out in the open. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom and I really appreciate the fact that she acted like a taxi for me today but man... take a chill pill! I'm wondering if she was harder to handle today because I'm 15 years old (retracing-wise) right now and am reliving teenage angst/rebellion? ;)

I got home and I took a well deserved nap. I made some REALLY awesome juices AND I did lots of yoga to some episodes of Namaste I had TIVOed. That show isn't easy to follow... but I think I did good today. I want to try doing those episodes again. I like the flow.... and the challenging asanas that I'm not quite familiar with.

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm
1.25L celery/collard greens/parsley
750ml blood orange juice (I think I'll always think of Carrie everytime I see a blood orange from now on! LOL)
750ml Summery juice (see below)
1.00L Grannysmith apple/Spinach
1tbsp Bee pollen+agave
500ml America Saffron tea

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
40 minutes yoga
Napping

Can I just say... for a 'zombie day'... I'm surprised and really proud of myself for getting 4L of juice in... plus all my 'psoriasis superfoods'. :) Yay Ben!

Summery juice

I noticed today that I was missing being innovative and inventive in the kitchen. Suddenly I conjured up this juice. It's very tasty! Tangy yet mellow... :)

1 grapefruit
2 red gala apples
1/4 cantaloupe
1 cup butternut squash (cut into tiny cubes)
2 dates (pitted, finely chopped, soaked for 5 minutes)

Into the vitamix it goes! Strain through nut mylk bag and enjoy! I was going to add a spice but after tasting it, I decided it didn't really need anything. :)

Restez juteux! :)

- Ben

Day 33 - So bloated!

2008-02-15T23:35:00.000-05:00

For those wondering, my neck feels as good as new. I guess that's what happens when you make a conscious decision to do something about an ailment right away instead of going for regular 'western quick fixes'. I'm sure 95% of the population would have taken an ibuprofen and called it a day....

I think we, as a society, need to have more trust in our bodies. We need to understand that our bodies act in our best interest. We buy immodium, rollaids, gasex, decongestants, etc. I remember being a flight attendant and we used to pass gasex around like it was candy; for whatever reason, the more you fly, the more you get bloated on the plane... it goes beyond the gases already inside you expanding.... I have no idea how much damage I've done to my body from being a flight attendant for 2 years. But seriously, look at the rollaids commercials; they basically advertise "hey! eat all that greasy pizza, french fries and chilli you want because you can pop a rollaid later when your body is telling you "you shouldn't have done that!". You're the boss right?". What about immodium? Sure diarrhea is inconvenient but, your body is trying to get rid of something it feels is a threat... do you really want to keep that inside you?

Those were just some of the things I was thinking about today. I had way too much cabbage in my juices today and I felt like a hot air balloon for most of the day. It got me thinking of the old flight attendant days and the gasex parties in the back galley. Conclusion: no more green cabbage in my juices for a while... and red cabbage will be kept to a minimum.

I'm happy to say that I've also started to incorporate items from the Pagano regimen into my juice feast. The Pagano diet, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is a diet specifically tailored to people suffering from psoriasis. It is based on the works of Edgar Cayce and has yielded dramatic results for a vast number of patients. Today, I started to incorporate slippery elm bark in my morning drinking water (apart from the msm water) and American saffron tea (hong hua in chinese medicine).

Slippery Elm

The reason why I'm taking slippery elm is to cure 'leaky gut syndrome'. According to Cayce, leaky gut syndrome and high toxicity in the body are believed to be the root cause of psoriasis. Edgar Cayce suggested that slippery elm bark should be taken in the morning: a small pinch into a glass of water. It's best to let this stand for 20 minutes but not more. I found the quote below just today; I'm thrilled to see that I inadvertently followed his directions; I've been cleansing for some time and have been taking in a lot of liquids. Now it's time to heal those intestinal walls! :)

4841-2
To remove the condition as we have over the system, take that into the system, into the intestines and stomach, those of a nature which acts to the rebuilding of forces and as an absorbent to remove the acidity state in the stomach and intestines: First, into the system what we have now; plenty of water. Cleanse out as much as possible. Then to the system that of water carrying the cellular force of elm. That is, water produced from the bark of the elm, to act as a rebuilding force to the mucus coat of the intestine and lower duodenum itself.

- Edgar Cayce

American Saffron

American Saffron (also known as yellow saffron) has no connection to the expensive Spanish saffron. It is rather inexpensive, especially if purchased from a Chinese herbalist (referred to as Hong Hua). Edgar Cayce recommended yellow saffron for gastro-intestinal healing. A pinch of the herb into boiling water makes a delicious tea. It also acts as a mild laxative.

4264-1
... the action of the saffron to the body is to go through the action of the juices of the stomach, the proper incentive to carry on throughout the system the stimulating force needed to give rejuvenated life to this portion of the stomach when we are rebuilding proper channels through these, then the expressions coming to the nerve force and to all the rest of the body become through the proper channels.

3972-1
... the action of the yellow saffron is to act on the duodenum and the functioning of the small intestines ...

- Edgar Cayce

Important note about Slippery Elm and American Saffron

It's important to note that these two elements should not be taken close together. Slippery elm should be taken in the morning while American Saffron should be taken at night, when one is ready to go to bed.

Whoa! This is getting long... Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L celery/cilantro/green chard/green cabbage
1.25L apple/red cabbage
1.00L pear/carrot/orange
1.25L celery/green chard/apple/daikon+E3live
1Tbsp bee pollen
1 Tbsp hemp oil

Today I also did:
No exercise...Darn!
No enemas...Darn!
1 nap! :)

Hasta luego!

- Ben

Day 32 - Rest and relaxation

2008-02-14T23:39:00.004-05:00

I feel so much better today. I decided to do the right thing and stay home today. I needed some R&R. I spent most of the day in bed. I then cleaned the apartment; I figured some good feng shui could help! I also caught up on like 4 hours of American Idol... okay that last one wasn't too Zen! hehehe.

The neck is as good as new! :) Thanks for all the love and good thoughts everyone sent my way. I'm have no doubt it helped the healing process :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/parsley+kelp+E3live
1.25L pineapple/blackberry
1.5L coconut water+E3live
1.00L Pear/Kale juice
750ml Hong Hua (American Saffron) tea.
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
1Tbsp coconut oil

Today I also did:

Housecleaning! (come on, that's gotta count for something?)
R&R!! :)
40 minutes of yoga
MSM lotion (before I go to bed tonight, promise!)

I think today was a juicy-record! I'm keeping this entry short today. I work at the hotel tomorrow so I'll have 8 hours to blog; I'm planning a "1 month into juice feasting" special edition where I'll update you all on the status of the Psoriasis and also give a general overview of my juice feasting experience thus far. :)

Schlaf gut! :) Kuss!

- Ben

Day 31 - Torticollis and bullying...

2008-02-13T20:27:00.001-05:00

Thank you, everyone, for your concern. I'm doing a lot better. Yesterday was so bizarre. It basically hurt to talk, swallow, yawn and burp (especially burp!). I told my manager I wouldn't be talking if that was okay with her so everything was done by email yesterday... or people coming to my desk and me typing into the computer to answer them lol. It was actually oddly soothing to do a 'silent retreat' at work. I should do that more often.

I went to the chiro in the afternoon and immediately felt better. She also confirmed it was muscular and specifically the sternocleidomastoid. She suggested I go for a massage at that point. Luckily my RMT was available that evening. He gave me an awesome massage; whole back, focusing on the upper neck area and shoulderblades (constant problem for me) and then the front part of the neck along with upper and lower chest regions. When he was about to start massaging the front part of my neck, he warned me it wouldn't be pleasant.... He wasn't kidding! It was really painful. But hey, no pain, no gain? He massaged me with black cumin, chamomile and laurel leaf essential oils! Mmmmm... I can still smell it! :) Black cumin is sooo yum! :) After the massage, I was told what I had is basically a form of torticollis.

My theory is: I either screwed up my neck whilst lifting boxes about 30 min before the pain first shot through my neck.... or, like Michelle and Carrie suggested, it could have been psychosomatic. I'm supposed to be around 15/14 years old right now, through the 'retracing' process.

I had the most aweful teenage years... I basically got bullied everyday from ages 9 through 15. I had insomnia and symptoms of PTS as a kid. I can't verbalize the feeling of dread that would overwhelm me as summer vacation came to an end... not knowing what bullies would be in my class that year or not knowing to what extent I would get beaten up or verbally assaulted. I grew up in a small town and being the only obviously gay kid in a school of 300 people, I became an easy target for that sort of thing.

While that's all a distant memory, I still live with a lot of that still. I sometimes expect for people to backstab me or conspire against me. I never had any friends throughout high school and, now as an adult, the feeling of having friends still feels strangely alien to me. When I hear people laughing on the bus, I immediately assume they're laughing at me. I guess that's what 6 years of chronic abuse will do to a person.

There's a positive side to all this; I'm a much more driven person... I left that small town and went to the city where people are much more open and less conservative and I've been independent ever since. I moved out at 16 and made a life for myself. I've been driven to succeed to prove those people wrong.

Anyway... enough about all that... It's just, I was thinking this morning... I couldn't associate this feeling in my throat to any injury I've ever had. The only exception is, it felt like when kids would pin me against the wall with their hands on my throat and try to strangle me. This feeling was very akin to feeling stifled. It's the only thing I can link it to. Maybe writing this all out, verbalizing it through my blog will help release these repressed feelings.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/red chard/cilantro+E3live+kelp
1.25L apple/red cabbage
750L cantaloupe
500ml coconut water+E3live
1Tbsp bee pollen
(forgot to take my fats again! d'oh!)

Today I did:
Skin brushing
1 chiropractic adjustment
1 hour massage with essential oils

I finally managed to get some Chanca Piedra in tincture form shipped to Canada! I'm a bit late on it, but I figured I'd rather get it in tincture and take it a few days later (supposed to start on day 30) than to get it in capsule form.

I'm desperately trying to order Healthforce products (parasite formula for day 60 and intestinal drawing formula) but am also having the same 'shipping to canada' problem. I'm waiting on an email from a seller on bluejay.com... You'd think Americans don't realize we're right next door to them or something? It boggles my mind why they wouldn't ship to Canada!

Anyway! :)

- Ben

PS: Officially hit the "lost 20lbs" mark today! I was at 150.4lbs and I was super pissed because I've been waiting to hit 149 for days now.... so I went to pee, came back and I was at 150.0! LOL!

Day 30 - OUCH! What did I do?

2008-02-12T23:18:00.001-05:00

Day 30 was supposed to be bliss! I'm 1/3 of the way there! :) The day started off like it normally does, I got up, made 4L of juice and started getting ready. I did an enema with cat's claw tea. Again, intense enema! I'm convinced I eliminated muculoid plaque this time. I felt very lightheaded afterwards but I had to get to work... so I hopped in the shower, got ready and pretty and dashed out the door.

While I at work I found out Jack & Jill gave me the juice feaster's award! Yay! :) I'm so happy! Good timing too... I think day 30 is quite a milestone for juice feasters!

At lunch, I had a kiosk to host. When it was over, I put all the boxes back in the supply closet and went back to my desk. I started working on my to do list (14 items!). I started to get a bit stressed and then it happened.... INTENSE throbbing pain in my neck. Actually, the front of the neck... in my throat/windpipe area. The pain was to the left... near the clavicle... specifically the "sternocleidomastoid" muscle. I have no idea what happened but this muscle is hurting so badly that I could barely speak. It hurt to swallow and when I had a wee burp to make the pain would shoot even worse. I called my chiropractor and she was gone for the day; I have an emergency appointment at 2PM. I'm hoping it's just a rib or something that can be moved back into place. I'm writing this on the morning of day 31 and it still hurts. I'm just hoping I don't have to go to the hospital for this; I don't want to take any drugs while juice feasting... this would ruin all the progress I've done so far. I'll have to look into acupuncture if the chiro can't do anything. Could it be my throat chakra?

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/parsley+kelp
1.25L Pineapple/Blackberry (oh I've missed you!)
1.00L Orange/Apple/Carrot
1.00L Coconut water/leftover pineapple juice
1Tbsp bee pollen

Today I also did:
Skin Brushing
2L cat's claw enema
Yoga is on hold until my neck is fixed :(

If anyone has any tips regarding my bizarre neck pain, please let me know!

- Ben

Day 29 - Intuition

2008-02-11T20:43:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty irked right now; I tried to fix a letter "t" key on my keyboard and ended up breaking the metal casing that holds the key. 30$ for a new keyboard, thank you Ebay! Sigh. Oh well! Shit happens right? In case you're wondering, I'm typing "t"s with the little rubber plunger on the keyboard lol

Has anyone else noticed their intuition being really attuned during juice feasting? I swear I've had several dreams that I've interpreted as premonitions that have materialized. I've also had 'gut feelings' were right on lately. Pretty neat eh?

Today I had:
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.00L celery/red chard/parlsey+kelp+E3live
1.00L pomelo/orange/carrot
1.25L pumpkin pie juice
750ml coconut water+E3live
1.00L Apple+Cabbage (unexpectedly spicy!)

Today I also did:
Skin brushing
Napping!

I was still too knackered for exercise. I really had wanted to do pilates but it didn't work out. Yoga tomorrow!

That's all from me for now! :)

- Ben

Day 28 - Sleepy time bye bye

2008-02-10T17:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delayed posting. I'm backdating this posting for blog accuracy. So just pretend okay? :)

I was super super knackered; mostly from the weekend at the hotel. I went from not being able to sleep before my overnight shift to being zombified and, later, comatose. I got home after my shift a the hotel, drank my water+msm+lemon and went to bed. I woke up at 1PM and started getting ready for my date. First, it was time to make some green juice! I was staaarving and pretty light headed by then (it had been 15 hours since my last juice!).

In case you're wondering, the date went very well and I believe the feeling to be mutual. We went to a cute local coffee shop where I had peppermint tea. Afterwards, we went for a walk around the market. There was a man selling local bee pollen. A nice big jar of unpasteurized local bee pollen for 9$! Sweet deal! We ended up going to the fruit market where I got blood oranges. I've been craving them ever since Carrie mentioned them. 10$ for 10 blood oranges.... it made 1L of juice! I know, I thought it was a very expensive juice to make too. But then I thought, I would have paid this for a cosmopolitan a few years ago so.... I'll just think of this juice as a cosmo! :)

Afterwards we went to Winterlude: an annual festival celebrating winter where people from around the world come to show off their ice sculpture skills as part of a competition. It was nice...except for the fact that I was FREEZING! Side note: my body temperature has been considerably lower these past few weeks!

We retired back to starbucks where I had more peppermint tea to warm up.... that is, after I had some cataloupe juice since I was starving. I know, it's daring to pop a mason jar out in public and start drinking from it.... even more so on a date hahaha!

All that to say, it's possible to be social even whilst juice feasting!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.00L celery/kale+E3live+kelp
500ml cantaloupe juice
1L peppermint tea
1L blood orange juice
1tbsp bee pollen+agave
1tbsp coconut oil

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
40 min of Yoga
2L enema with cat's claw tea (meow!)

Lowest amount of juice in ages! But I was really knackered for most of the day and I was out and about too! Toooootally stole the cat's claw tea enema idea from Carrie. Sorry Carrie, you're that special! People want to emulate you! :)

That enema by the way was intense. I was able to hold it for 10 minutes. I think I eliminates some really old matter because afterwards I was REALLY tired and shivering too. Nonetheless, I still managed to get some yoga in. Tomorrow, it'll be time to try doing pilates again. I need a flat tummy!! :)

- Ben

Day 27 - Too much energy?

2008-02-09T23:50:00.000-05:00

Ahh yes. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing (except pineapple/blackberry juice... that rule doesn't apply there hehe). I work overnights on weekends (midnight to 8am) and I have to say... these shifts have gotten a lot easier to do since I've started juice feasting. I used to have to drink a lot of coffee to make it through the night... not anymore.

When I got home yesterday, it was time for mega groceries. I think I caught a short nap from noon to 4pm and never managed to fall back asleep again. I'm at work now (on day 28) and I'm completely knackered and zombified. I just want to go to beeeeeeeed.

I used to take melatonin, in the pre-JF days, to get me to fall asleep. It's a completely natural sleep aid; the brain already produces that same chemical when it starts to get dark outside.... that's why we get sleepy when it's dark. I've been refraining from using melatonin during the JF... it's tough because I have so much energy... it would be nice to use it to knock me out. Oh well... only 2 more months of juice feasting and hopefully not much longer of having two jobs!

Today I had:

1.5L water+msm+lemon
1L celery/kale+kelp+E3live
1L pineapple/blueberry (yum! Thanks Carrie!)
1L pumpkin pie juice (see previous posts)
1L apple/spinach juice

Today I also did:
Skin brushing
No time for anything else... too tired.

That's it for me! I can't wait to go to beeeeeeeed. Plus! I have a big date tomorrow :) :) Send some good vibes my way! :)

- Ben

Day 26 - Juicing through a busy lifestyle

2008-02-08T23:55:00.000-05:00

Let's face it! Some of us have very busy lives, and I'm no exception. This week, especially, has been incredibly busy. I don't believe I've mentioned it before, but I work in marketing for the federal government and as such, I am in charge of outreach activities for my department. This week, I've had 2 days 'off site' where I've hosted a kiosk at a hotel at the other end of the city. I also had another day where I've had to go set up a banner in Quebec, and make my way back to work...only to later go back to tear it down and then make my way to an internal conference at another location. Today I worked at my office in the AM and later went to 'the other side' (Hull, Quebec) to gather data on how our department's call centre works.

That's 5 work locations in 5 days. Some days, I had to be there for 7am!

How does one handle these situations? Here's Ben's top 5 tips to busy feasting!

5) Plan ahead. It's cliche, I know... but if you know you have a long day ahead, don't forget to bring extra juice! Especially if you're in a remote area with no juice bar in sight. You don't want to have to resort to pasteurized stuff! If you know you're not a morning person (juice feasting will solve that, eventually!) make your juices the night before. I've often woken up at 4am to make juices! You can do it! :)

4) Go hunting...for fridges! Okay, so you're not in your usual safe haven that is your office... that doesn't mean there isn't a fridge somewhere! Most office have fridges in a hidden corner; ask around! Put those mason jars back into a cool area so that they don't spoil.

3) Pack some ice packs! I'm lucky in that department; I inherit, from my uncle, all the ice packs used to transport medical supplies. To prevent cross-contamination, they don't use them twice. It's a waste because, they're perfectly safe to reuse and they stay cold for 24 hours. That being said, if you don't have an uncle in a medical field, go to your local department store and stock up on ice packs! Make sure you always have some handy for days where you might be traveling a lot. They'll keep your juices icy cold!

2) Coconut water to go; It's the easiest and fastest juice to make. I rely heavily on coconut water for mornings where I'm late or just really slow. Pop two of those open and boom! You've got almost 1L of 'juice'! Add some E3live to it to make it even more nourishing!

1) Don't underestimate the power of the rollie. As a former flight attendant, I can tell you that rollies are incredibly useful things. You can easily pack 4 mason jars full of juice into them, a few ice packs and a few towels (to avoid clinking noises and to 'insulate' the rollie). It makes carrying 4L+ of juice a breeze! Much better than subluxating your spine from carrying them around in a shoulderbag or briefcase. Don't forget the flight attendant walk!

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Very quick other random news; I got a call today about an interview with another department in the federal government. It's a job with less responsibilities but it would be DIRECTLY through the government. Right now, I work through an agency... it's a lot like being pimped; the government pays the agency, the agency takes a cut and pays me. If I get this job, I'll be making much more money, have benefits and will be doing less work. This also means, I'll be able to quit my weekend job! So... send lots of happy Buddha energy my way, please! :)

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Back to juicing! Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.00L celery+collard greens+cilantro+E3live+kelp
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
1.25L Pineapple juice
1.00L Butternut/orange/pear/date/cinnamon juice! (even tastier with 2 oranges!)
1.25L Coconut water+E3Live
1.00L Apple/Kale

Today I also did:
Skin brushing
45 min evening yoga

5.5L of juice again! I'm totally rocking! Well...except for forgetting to take my fats! eep! I still have no idea if my hemp oil is still good (see yesterday's post). Any ideas?

- Ben